I Am Honkai

Chapter 912: "Honkai" Descends!

Crack—!

A sudden explosive report tore through the dry atmosphere as a curved black fissure ripped open the void.

The ominous rift split the heavens, staining the sky in a bizarre violet-red—like a suffocating blanket cast over Fontaine’s firmament, pressing down upon hearts that had only just begun to settle moments ago. Shadows of grotesque phantoms writhed and clawed within it.

Through that indescribable black fracture, beyond the sky itself, crimson nebulae squirmed and stretched as though alive. They seeped into the irregular streaks of light along the evening horizon, swirling like cracks in frozen ice—vanishing in an instant, only to reappear again.

Rumble—!!

Thunder rolled in muffled waves. Owing to the unusual atmospheric conditions, each flash of those light streaks was accompanied by a violent sonic boom. Explosions erupted from thin air like battering rams striking the heavens, causing the sky to crackle as visible ripples spread across the atmosphere.

Even the hydrographic warning instruments and sensors installed upon the clockwork mechanisms by the Gardes detected the anomaly, issuing signals to nearby pedestrians: Danger. Evacuate immediately.

"Waaah! Don’t strike me! I was joking about knocking away ’Finality’! Please be magnanimous and don’t hold it against me—!"

Puffed up only moments ago, Paimon instantly deflated at the sudden upheaval and thunderclaps. She nearly tumbled from midair, shrinking back with tears welling in her eyes as she hid behind the blond youth.

"What is that?"

"The sky... it’s split open!"

"A meteor? Is it another meteor?!"

The Fontaine Gardes who had been about to place handcuffs on Griseo were drawn to the renewed upheaval in the sky, nearly forgetting to breathe. Many onlookers who had gathered because of the Chief Justice’s presence staggered backward in alarm, instinctively attempting to flee the impending storm.

"That color... there’s no mistake. ’Honkai’..." Slowly lowering her hands that had been prepared for restraint, Griseo stared at the shifting silhouettes flashing across the firmament. "They’re Honkai Beasts."

"H-Honkai Beasts? Beasts? Ah! It’s over! It’s over! Did they hear what I said and come to eat me?!" Hearing this, Paimon’s breathing grew more frantic. She clutched her head tightly, her eyes spinning into spirals.

"Paimon, stop talking." Acting on instinct, Aether shielded his small companion behind him, sword drawn in a guarded stance as he looked toward Neuvillette’s contemplative expression, then at Griseo. "...What’s going on?" Though his golden eyes had already grown calmer, carrying faint speculation, he still asked uncertainly.

"As you suspect. The culprits who destroyed my homeland—they’ve arrived."

Griseo spoke without joy or sorrow.

In her ear: "Warning. Honkai energy particles detected dispersing in the atmosphere... Concentration rising rapidly. Exceeding 5 hw... 10 hw..." The urgent report from the Ark’s onboard AI instantly reduced her plan of ’serving her sentence and starting anew’ to nothing.

As expected.

Griseo let out a deep sigh of regret and self-reproach within her heart.

They’ve caught up...

I thought that after serving my sentence and atoning through imprisonment, I could begin a new life in this civilization—repair the Ark, or pass on the traces of the civilization entrusted to me, preserving them through knowledge...

Gazing up at the once-clear sky now dyed in violet-red shadow, the light in the girl’s star-like, crystalline eyes—filled only moments ago with boundless purpose and innocent dreams—dimmed in an instant.

The Ark’s engines and armor layers were damaged. Even with emergency restart, it could not be sustained for long...

There was no escape.

"Ark, deploy all anti-Honkai autonomous mechs, micro-robots, and engineering units. Construct defensive fortifications on-site centered on the crash location..." Griseo made a certain resolve. "Separate the Ark Project database and the backup vault containing indexed plant seeds and species DNA records."

"Griseo, what are you planning to do?"

Even if he did not understand her language, Neuvillette’s keen perception caught the sudden heaviness and resolve in her emotions. Drawn from the sky’s upheaval, he immediately sensed danger approaching.

"Backup. Preservation. I am sorry, everyone. That is not a natural disaster."

Griseo’s calm, almost mechanical voice rang out.

"I brought this calamity. I will bear it. Please accept my offering—from my fallen civilization. If the disaster cast down by ’Finality’ does not descend upon you, then open it. I have sealed it there."

The girl looked toward the Chief Justice, whose brows were gradually tightening.

"You intend to... leave. Or rather, lure it away."

Though not particularly versed in human emotion, Neuvillette heard the intent of self-sacrifice in her words. His gaze shifted toward the Ark’s crash site—the shattered coastline of Erinnyes Island where the sea cliffs had collapsed from impact.

"Yes."

Griseo nodded solemnly.

"I will leave behind the final gift of my civilization in the depths of the sea. Friend who commands water, please accept it. Treat it well. Perhaps the task of rebuilding and continuing the flame-chasing civilization should have been completed by me personally. Everyone entrusted it to me... but I am sorry. It has already arrived."

"To avoid implicating you, I must leave before the Honkai Eruption occurs."

The girl retrieved a small mechanical box from the pouch at her waist and handed it over.

"Press the switch lightly to open it. It will help you understand Honkai disasters. According to Aunt MEI’s theory, my civilization and I were defective products who failed the ’assessment,’ remnants meant to be erased. But you are different. Your civilization is still developing. The ’assessment’ has not yet begun. Even if Honkai’s tendrils eventually reach you, the ’assessment’ is a gradual process."

"..."

Neuvillette accepted the mechanical box, processing the words of the girl who called herself a survivor of a destroyed civilization.

His intuition told him he should believe her.

Yet he was the Chief Justice. He should not act on emotion. Procedure must be followed. What if she were an invader concealing her true nature?

Griseo’s evidence could be forged. If her homeland truly possessed the ability to roam the stars, fabricating images and false data would not be difficult. Her words alone could not suffice.

"Forgive my frankness, Miss Griseo. My information is incomplete, but your reasoning rests upon a single premise—your habitual way of thinking. If ’Finality’ has truly turned its gaze upon this place—if it is a god of destruction that has already pronounced the end of at least one civilization—then even if you leave, even if you sacrifice yourself and are eliminated by its minions, can you guarantee that we, who have already entered its field of vision, will be spared as you predict?"

"Yes. I cannot. But I no longer have time to continue explaining."

Griseo turned and began walking toward the Ark.

"Stop!" A member of the Gardes raised a firearm and aimed at the girl’s back, shouting, "You are a suspect awaiting trial! You must be brought to justice!" Just as his finger touched the trigger, a gloved hand pressed the weapon downward.

"No." It was Neuvillette.

"But—"

"I guarantee her in my capacity as Chief Justice." Neuvillette looked at the girl’s solitary, slender back. For a fleeting moment, he seemed to see something heavy pressing upon her frail shoulders.

"Thank you."

Griseo halted and gave a slight bow of gratitude. "If I survive once this disaster ends, I will not absent myself from judgment."

"Lord Neuvillette, it is difficult to explain the full details of Honkai in a short time. I will extract the records of the Honkai Eruptions and deliver them to you. If you trust me, please evacuate ordinary civilians immediately. ’Finality’ is not something they can face... Once Honkai energy concentration exceeds 20 hw, those with weak resistance may fall gravely ill—or worse, undergo zombie conversion, mutate, and become irrational walking corpses driven only by aggression."

"While the Honkai energy threshold is still in its brewing stage before full eruption, there is still time. Evacuate. At the very least... before they die, let them remain with their families and loved ones."

The calm, almost emotionless girl spoke such deeply pessimistic words in a faint trembling voice. When she finished, Griseo dashed into the Ark through the hatch.

"How could this..."

Paimon covered her face uneasily. Though she did not understand what ’hw’ meant, nor the connection between ’Honkai energy’ and ’Zombie conversion,’ it was obvious that none of it was good.

"Damn it!"

"What do you mean ’before they die’?! Calamity-bringer! If you hadn’t arrived—!"

Already enraged by the devastation on Erinnyes Island, several Gardes erupted in fury. The hot-tempered among them even moved to rush forward, only to be stopped by the golden-haired youth.

"Silence!"

Thud! The gentleman’s cane struck the ground heavily. "Do not blame heaven and earth. If a disaster has arrived, then it was destined to come sooner or later." After a brief pause, Neuvillette made his decision. "In my capacity as Chief Justice, Neuvillette, I hereby submit to Lady Furina: Fontaine is to enter full emergency wartime readiness immediately. Prepare to meet the enemy."

"Full wartime readiness? Yes, sir!"

The Garde hesitated for only a heartbeat before saluting and carrying out the order.

Aether paused. "Is it truly that serious?"

Standing with cane in hand, Neuvillette’s expression was grave. "Perhaps. I only hope my premonition is mistaken." His gaze remained fixed upon the turbulent sky. "Is it ’the Primordial One’... or something even deeper beyond the endless starry void?"

Tracing back to his origin, he was not human, but another being in human form—one who held the ancient authority of the Hydro Dragon. He felt it clearly: something foreign had intruded into the nation of Hydro.

Something far more troublesome than the primordial seawater.

He had tried. He could not control it at all. Though he exerted every effort to wield the power of the source waters to expel those ’impurities’ from Fontaine’s seas, there were too many. From the rift in the sky, more and more—endless—’impurities’ poured in, mingling into Fontaine... into Teyvat itself.

"It truly is serious if the Chief Justice is issuing such an order. Even our Spina di Rosula must prepare."

Having listened to the entire exchange, Navia lowered the finely crafted monocular in her hand and exhaled slowly. "Let’s suspend our matters for now. Have our people prepare for evacuation and be ready to respond to any threat."

Full wartime readiness had not been heard of in a very long time—especially not from someone who was effectively the highest authority of a nation.

In the peace-dominated lands of Teyvat, recent years had seen no more than informal frictions and small-scale conflicts. The mobilization of national machinery into full wartime readiness had truly not occurred in ages.

As for Grand Master Varka’s expedition in Mondstadt, Watatsumi Island’s resistance in Inazuma, or the Akademiya’s rebellion in Sumeru... those belonged to internal affairs and civil conflict.

"Quickly! Evacuate the residents of Erinnyes Island! By order of the Chief Justice, the Court of Fontaine must also be evacuated!"

With the command issued, the people of Erinnyes Island hurriedly fled the approaching storm.

The Melusines of the Palais Mermonia, the Gardes’ firearm units, the clockwork meka divisions, Champion Duelists, liaisons from the Fortress of Meropide... even the Fatui, visiting adventurers, professional guilds, and prisoners serving sentences—all sprang into motion. The entire apparatus of Fontaine’s official institutions resembled a precisely operating clockwork machine.

Opera Epiclese.

Time passed second by second. Work at the Palais Mermonia had been temporarily suspended. Neuvillette sat at the entrance corridor of the opera house, looking at the stained glass windows riddled with cracks, the wooden doors and window frames torn open by large gaps.

Night fell swiftly. The wind was fierce, mingled with sorrowful rain. Lightning and thunder intertwined as the upheaval in the sky grew ever more violent. Indistinct rumbling echoed overhead—like overlapping roars of ferocious beasts—nearly drowning out the faint sound of the projection.

Upon the tea table, the mechanical box projected a harrowing scene.

A once-prosperous city lay dead. Skyscrapers that should have towered upon the horizon were reduced to shattered ruins, broken and desolate. Those infected with Honkai sickness wandered aimlessly among the debris—skin gray and ulcerated, drifting like mindless zombies.

"So scary..." Paimon peeked timidly from behind Aether.

"..."

The atmosphere was heavy. Whether Neuvillette, Aether, or Navia—who had come as a representative of Fontaine’s civil organizations—all had fallen into contemplation.

Suddenly—creeeak—

"Hey! Neuvillette, what exactly is going on?"

Accompanied by crisp footsteps, a voice every citizen of Fontaine had heard countless times—gentle yet carrying a touch of theatrical exaggeration—broke the oppressive silence.

A small, exquisite top hat appeared first, followed by a white-haired woman dressed in deep blue, wearing an extravagant formal outfit adorned with a half-fishtail flourish and ribboned decorations. Boots paired with pleated stockings completed her flamboyant attire, making her look like a grand star mid-performance.

She was none other than the Queen of all waters, all peoples, all laws—the supreme ruler of Fontaine, the Hydro Archon among the Seven.

"Neuvillette, the changes in the sky, the sorrowful rain, and now full wartime readiness... Who are you planning to go to war with?"

"Lady Furina." Neuvillette rose and shook his head. "It is not I who seeks war. It is disaster that has descended upon Fontaine."

He looked at his god with solemn gravity. "There is no time for further words. Furina... no—Hydro Archon Focalors. I no longer have the time to entangle matters of Poisson, the slate, or the prophecy."

"What—what do you mean? Why so serious?"

The sudden formal address made Furina’s mismatched dark and pale blue eyes blink rapidly. She instinctively stepped back.

"I will no longer resort to indirect means to force you to reveal anything. But I hope you will present yourself as a god should. I do not know what you are thinking, nor what you are concealing or planning. Fontaine... may soon face the greatest challenge since its founding." Neuvillette looked toward the oppressive sky.

"I..."

"Do not answer yet, Lady Focalors." Neuvillette gestured toward the projection playing upon the tea table at the center of the room.

"That is... Heavens." The image of a massive pink-and-white luminous aberrant beast descending from the sky and smashing a skyscraper in half made Furina press her lips together, instinctively clutching her chest.

Boom! Another thunderous explosion followed, crimson lightning flashing through the shattered stained-glass openings and illuminating everyone’s faces.

"The Honkai energy concentration at high altitude has already exceeded 300 hw..."

An unfamiliar female voice echoed within the room. Furina belatedly followed the sound and saw that the projected image from the mechanical box had split into another screen. Within a crimson-lit environment filled with flashing alarms, the sky-blue-haired girl moved her hands rapidly as if playing a piano.

Clack!

Clack-clack-clack—!

"They’ve entered." The girl in the projection lifted her head.

Rumble—!

Violent arcs of light tore open the sky, leaving prismatic afterimages in everyone’s eyes. A sharp sound like shattering glass accompanied a gale that seemed to blow straight into the physical realm known as Teyvat.

The next instant—the firmament fell.

The midnight-blue sky was dyed a deep violet. Fontaine’s mountains and rivers turned ashen gray, while the seas of the Hydro nation glowed faintly crimson.

Like an ocean of blood.

"Roar—!!"

Towering pillars of light—like luminous spears—pierced down from above the clouds, from the scarlet other shore.

The echo of explosions swept across Erinnyes Island and spread outward, leaving glass-like scars upon Fontaine’s lands and mountains. Then—the earth split open.

Light. Countless points of light burst upward from the ground, then dispersed into ripples, spreading like oil stains across still water.

The powerful shockwave reached the Opera Epiclese. The ground trembled violently. The lead seals on the windows clattered. The remaining stained glass shook on the verge of collapse. Tables and chairs rattled. The water in teacups rippled violently.

Chunks of earth and rock larger than houses were flung high into the air. Half-molten metal ore, burning splinters of wood and vegetation rained down over most of Erinnyes Island, pelting the ground in a relentless barrage.

From all directions came overlapping roars—beastly cries from creatures unknown.

"Griseo, how many enemies are there?" Neuvillette asked.

"Many." Griseo could not provide a precise number. Inside the Ark’s central control room, she stared at the radar display filled with densely packed light signatures. Among them, the thick signals exceeding the 500 hw threshold were steadily increasing.

A profound sense of powerlessness surged within her.

According to the recorded data, Honkai disasters escalated in waves... If even the first tendrils arrived with such ferocity, was ’Honkai’ truly so determined to erase civilizations that failed the ’assessment’ from the universe—leaving not even the slightest remnant behind...?

Griseo’s five fingers tightened around the radiant blue cross of the Anchor of Voyage. Her hands trembled from the force.

Could her plan to lure them away succeed?

Would they truly pursue her if she departed?

If she failed...

If she had never come here...

Crushing guilt welled up within her as she imagined the disasters Fontaine—and Teyvat—would suffer because of her arrival.

"Neuvillette, what is that?!" Furina cried.

At the edge of the greenbelt wall near the Fountain of Lucine plaza, a breach had already formed. Collapsed boulders toppled down on the opposite side, crashing before Furina’s eyes. From beyond, a searing wave surged toward the opening. A flickering shadow flew over the hills lining the fountain avenue.

With the widened view, the image gradually became clear in her sight: a human-sized creature clad in gleaming white-and-pink armor, wings vibrating at high speed, its geometric body arched like that of a bird—or a mosquito—diving down from the sky.

Sensing the hostility and vigilance of the gathered crowd within the plaza and fountain avenue, the Seraph-class Honkai Beast shrieked as if in provocation. Buzz! Violet light gathered, forming a concentrated beam.

Boom—!!

A flash of brilliance burst forth. Furina felt a brief searing heat brush her cheek. She turned just in time to see a fireball exploding along the right wing of the opera house’s fan-shaped structure, fragments bursting outward with a crackling sound as shattered building materials scattered through the air.

As if it were a signal—

"Fire!"

Bang-bang-bang-bang!

Muzzle flashes and elemental crystal explosions from the clockwork meka engulfed the Honkai Beast.

"Seraph-class Honkai Beast." Neuvillette paused, meeting Furina’s gaze. "Lady Focalors, if you have reached a decision, then please cease your concealment. Stand with us and protect Fontaine."

With that, the Chief Justice stepped out of the room.

Aether followed without hesitation.

"Hey—wait for me... Furina, don’t worry. We believe in you. You must be a good god. If there’s something you cannot say, there must be a reason." Before chasing after them, Paimon offered a hurried word of comfort to Furina, whose eyes were lowered in unreadable thought.

Footsteps faded.

In an instant, Furina was left alone in the room.

"..."

Gunfire and furious roars outside the opera house had already merged into a continuous storm of sound. Furina walked slowly deeper into the building—to the grand hall, where the courtroom stage stood.

She could smell the fear in the air.

"...Give up. It’s meaningless..."

Murmuring softly—no one knew to whom she spoke—tears welled in her beautiful mismatched blue eyes. She clasped her hands tightly.

"You see? It was always going to happen. She... we committed that act. This is our original sin."

"No matter how desperately we tried to prevent the prophecy... judgment would still descend from the sky. Look. It has come. Falling from above. Drowning everything..."

Furina pushed open the doors to the grand hall and looked toward the stage below, and upon it—the scales: the Oratrice Mécanique d’Analyse Cardinale.

"What... what should we do...?"

...

"They’re here! Hold this position! By order of the Chief Justice—buy time! The Hydro Archon and the Chief Justice will surely find a way—!"

Boom—!

A massive aqueduct constructed of heavy stone blocks was smashed apart by tremendous force, fragments exploding skyward. "Roar—roar—!" A Honkai Beast nearly twenty meters tall dragged its mountain-like body forward before leaping high. Its hydraulic-like legs slammed down with crushing force.

Rumble—!

The shattered remains of the aqueduct were swallowed instantly by lake water and rubble. The already devastated fountain avenue twisted violently before erupting upward, splintering into fragments that slammed into the defensive formation of the clockwork meka.

Beyond the opera house, behind the vigilant ranks of clockwork constructs, the Gardes gritted their teeth and held the line.

Too many.

They had focused their fire and shot down several of the flying creatures—but it was like striking a hornet’s nest. They kept pouring in without end.

In less than a minute, he had already seen winged types, charging beasts shaped like armored warhorses, round balloon-like creatures, tentacled forms resembling floating specters, humanoid figures with elongated claws... and the larger ones were still arriving. Now even colossal beasts the size of small hills—larger than their excavation-type clockwork meka—had appeared.

"Reinforcements! We need reinforcements!"

"Have the Research Institute bring every weapon they’ve tinkered with!"

"Summon Vision bearers—call the Allogenes!"

...

Apparently irritated by the noise of these insignificant insects, a Chariot-class Honkai Beast released a deafening roar. Ignoring the attacks from the so-called rabble, its glowing eyes locked directly onto the collapsed sea cliff between the opera house and Marcotte Station—the crash site of the Ark.

"Roar—!"

With a thunderous bellow, a violet-red surge of energy burst outward, streaking straight into the heavens and lingering there. It began charging toward the Ark’s location.

"Roar-roar—aaagh!"

It cried out in savage exhilaration.

The next instant—boom!—a raging torrent surged forth. A massive spiraling column of water slammed into the Chariot-class Honkai Beast and flipped it violently onto its back.

Thud!

"You shall not pass."

"Grr?" The glow in its eyes intensified. The overturned beast twisted its massive body and tilted its head in a disturbingly human gesture, staring at the figure advancing upon the water with cane in hand.

"Roar—!" Just as it prepared to unleash another furious charge—another blast struck it head-on. An anti-Honkai energy cannon detonated, pulverizing the ground around the Chariot-class Honkai Beast.

The attack had clearly come from the Ark’s direction.

Bang-bang-bang! One by one, deployed autonomous combat mechs extended stabilizers and firing mounts. Their barrels aligned toward the incoming swarm of Honkai Beasts and unleashed a synchronized barrage. Explosions erupted from every direction, shards scattering like bullets.

The Chariot-class Honkai Beast howled in agony. Its once pink-and-white armored exterior dimmed. Like a water balloon pierced by a needle, its shell began to melt like adhesive, sloughing away to reveal pallid, flesh-like matter beneath.

"It’s working! Keep firing!" the Gardes shouted in exhilaration.

However—

"ROAR—!!"

A far greater tremor shook the battlefield. Towering silhouettes emerged beyond the plaza’s defensive line like advancing city walls. Dust billowed in waves. Row upon row of Chariot-class Honkai Beasts advanced, their glowing eyes fixed upon them.

The Gardes’ cheers died instantly, as though someone had seized them by the throat.

"Gulp..."

Their eyes widened as if ready to burst from their sockets. Hands clenched tightly around their firearms. Teeth chattered uncontrollably as they fought to suppress their fear.

It was the most primal terror buried deep within all living beings—the fear of overwhelming enormity.

Because behind those advancing ranks, an even more immense and terrifying Honkai Beast began to reveal itself—one that held a spear in one hand and a shield in the other, its colossal frame towering above the rest like a war god descending to annihilate the field.

—

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