Honkai: Starting to Wander with Kiana

Ten years ago, on this vast Siberian land, the Second Herrscher was born—Sirin, the Herrscher of Void.

Schicksal's chosen—Siegfried, Cecilia, Theresa, and their allies—united with the leader of Entropy, Welt Yang, the First Herrscher of Reason. Together with their agents Tesla and Einstein, they set out to defeat Sirin.

To the outside world, Schicksal claimed their foes had become unstable. They said they were forced to fire a Honkai neutron bomb. The strongest S-rank Valkyrie, Cecilia Schariac, sacrificed herself to hold off Sirin so that the bomb could be deployed.

The truth was different. Siegfried briefly tapped into the power of the Kaslana Stigma and gravely injured Sirin. The dying Sirin, lonely and desperate, caused the Herrscher core to go berserk. Within moments, a massive spike in Honkai radiation blanketed all of Siberia. If nothing had been done, that radiation would have spread over the rest of Asia.

When word of the situation reached him, Cecilia made up his mind. After bidding Siegfried a quick farewell, she raised the Sixth Godly Weapon, Black Abyss White Flower. Using her blood as fuel, she unleashed the holy blood and cast White Flower Wilt. In a flash, she cleared the Siberian land of Honkai radiation. Siegfried made that chance count. With his last ounce of strength, he used his final form of Heavenly Fire Judgment to seal the berserk Herrscher core.

Otto, monitoring the situation remotely from headquarters, sensed the threat from Karma. Citing Siegfried's imminent loss of control as a reason, he ordered Theresa to retreat and then fired a Honkai fragmentation bomb at them.

Cecilia, knowing she was at the end, commanded the Black Abyss White Flower to protect Siegfried. Holding Sirin, she sat amidst a flower field formed by the creative power radiating from the Black Abyss White Flower. Up above, the Honkai fragmentation bomb whistled rapidly closer.

"Sirin, you poor child," Cecilia began. "In an illusion, I saw your loneliness and pain. Back then, I truly wanted to become your mother, to make up for what you lost. Unfortunately, I couldn't change anything then. But at least, in your final moments, I can give you some warmth.

'I love you.'"

The glare of the Honkai fragmentation bomb swept across the entire sky, and Sirin and Cecilia finally disappeared into the light.

"So warm... If only..."

Ten years from today, Siberia had many wandering Honkai creatures due to the effects of the Honkai fragmentation bomb. According to internal information from Schicksal, under the thick ice somewhere in the area, there was an injured and dying trial-level Honkai creature – Benares. Bishop Otto Apocalypticus ordered the area to be blocked off, but he didn't allow anyone to retrieve Bellaros.

Honkai creatures are classified into the following ranks, from highest to lowest:

**Assault level**

**Knight level**

**Ballista level**

**Chariot level**

**Imperial level**

**Marshal level**

**Judgment level**

**Honkai Emperor level**

**Doomsday level**

There is a significant gap between the ranks of Honkai creatures. Doomsday-level creatures are a special subset of trial-level Honkai creatures; their exact power level is hard to determine, but they are certainly unique. For example, Vishnu continuously evolves by devouring other creatures, Brahma is formed from the fusion of countless Honkai creatures, and Maheśvara is a massive creature that doesn't emit any Honkai energy despite its size. It's an absolute ruler of the deep sea, but only Elysia has ever seen it.

At this moment, Ryn and Kiana Kaslana were battling two assault-level Honkai creatures. They were truly lucky – assault-level creatures usually appear in groups, but recently Kiana only ever encountered one or two at a time.

Kiana Kaslana yelled, "Kiana strikes!" and rushed into the fray. Despite holding two pistols, she rarely fired them. She used their butts to smash and her feet to kick.

Ryn, on the other hand, was just a person with a typical teenager's interest in anime and manga; he had very little real combat experience. However, his Stigma-enhanced body and mind meant that he wasn't completely hopeless.

"Black Rock Burst Fist!" "Crow Rides a Plane!" "Flame Explode"—

Ryn shouted out the names of his attacks every time he struck. Though they were just ordinary punches or kicks, at least he looked like he was giving his all.

Before long, Kiana Kaslana had dispatched one of the Honkai Beasts. She turned around to see Ryn, still yelling, tangled up in a wrestling match with another.

"Is that it?" she thought. He bragged about how strong he was earlier; I thought he was a bit tougher than this—the fleabag can't even beat a side soldier. Laughing, Kiana Kaslana raised her gun and pointed it at the Honkai Beast Ryn had pinned to the ground.

"Watch out." With that, she emptied the magazine, killing the annoying but cute Honkai Beast once and for all. She helped the still-dazed Ryn up, brushed the snowflakes off him, and patted him on the shoulder. Then, she leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "Wimps aren't allowed."

"Cough! Ahem, what's with that talk? I'm not some pushover. It just means I have plenty of room to improve. My potential is limitless," Ryn chuckled awkwardly before turning to Kiana Kaslana with genuine curiosity.

"How come you shoot right next to their face? Aren't you afraid of a backfire?"

Kiana Kaslana twirled her double pistols, smiling. "A backfire? What's that? I've never heard of it. This is how I've always fought monsters!"

"According to my dad, there's a weak Honkai energy field around these beasts. Anything without its own power that passes through the field won't do much damage. Only Honkai can stand up to Honkai, so we need special Honkai weapons to take them down.

"The only Honkai weapon I've seen is my dad's Heavenly Fire Judgment. If that old man were here, he'd just pop them off one by one with ease."

"I see. Could I use your guns for a moment?"

"Why?"

Ryn pointed at the collapsed Honkai Beast. "This is my first time seeing real guns. Let me get a feel for them and fire a few shots. It'd be dumb to learn in the middle of a battle later on."

Kiana Kaslana didn't think much of it and handed her pistols to Ryn. She then showed him how to fire, reload, and handle the weapons safely.

Ryn pressed the muzzle against the Honkai Beast. The ice-cold feel of the gun made his heart race. Despite having played many games, this was his first time holding a real gun. In his old world, firearms were strictly controlled.

Ryn looked up at Kiana Kaslana. She returned his gaze with an encouraging look. Taking a deep breath, he pulled the trigger.

Bang!

As Ryn touched the parts embedded in his face, he realized it hadn't caused any harm. Still, it left a dark shadow in his heart. The damage was low, but the humiliation was intense.

"Uh, I hope this isn't... a blown-up engine?"

Embarrassed, Kiana Kaslana walked back to help Ryn pick off the shattered parts from his body. She then helplessly patted her head, sticking out her tongue.

"I've never encountered something like this before. Heh."

"Then you must have great luck with drawing cards. I thought the gun was just modified, so you never had a blown-up engine. Looks like even this thing relies on your luck," Ryn said, shaking his hand. The effect of the explosion was way stronger than what he had seen on TV; he wondered if those guns were just broken.

"Once I make a card-drawing game in the future, I'll let you help me draw."

"Sounds good."