Chapter 1: The Sun and The Moon

"Hated by life itself, all we can do is carry on. There is no stopping a world that desires our demise. So move on, push forward, keep fighting. Rewrite the story, create a world where things can be beautiful again. Fight on, and unweave fate to create your own design." – Empyrean Clan Core Tenant

That day began with a dream for me. A dream of the end of the world. It was me and one other, a figure shrouded in white and surrounded by blazing fire that left him obscured from my vision. The only thing that stood out about him was his cold blue eyes and the massive sword's burning blade in his hands, aimed right at me as its fire flared upwards.

"Give up. You can't win this battle as you are now. I gave you a chance, and yet you rejected it. So please, I implore you to stop and let yourself be put to rest." Said the figure, raising the sword and lashing it downwards, flames pouring from the blade and rushing at me. The sword in my hands changed as I lifted it, turning into a massive cross, the item splitting open and sending ribbons of sky blue energy to block the flames. "What do you hope to accomplish, Soleil?! What will this battle result in?!"

The flames broke through the barrier formed by the cross, sharp pain splitting through me as the fire lashed my body, causing me to fall to a knee, the cross reverting to a sword and clattering to the ground. But I wasn't going to give up. I couldn't, even if this was our fate. There had to be a way to change it, right?

"Push forward, and rewrite the story into your own! To fight against fate itself and rip apart its weave, those are the wills I carry with me! So I'll do just that. I'll rewrite fate itself to save everybody!"

"Tch, just fall!"

As the figure lunged to strike at me, that was when my vision filled with sky blue flames as my hand reached out and grasped tightly to something in my palm, the world itself falling away before me.

Nagazora City, Japan, Spring of 2019

Campus District, Senba Girl's High School

What would have otherwise been a pleasant sight of falling cherry blossom petals in the late spring on the path to school was marred by the dead silence of the day—all except for Soleil's labored breathing and heavy running.

"Of all the things… now?! Something like this happens now?!"

He wasn't running because he was late for school. Quite the contrary, last he checked the time he had at least half an hour before he'd be late. Soleil was the kind of person who made sure he left school early due to a rather lousy sense of direction he possessed.

It wasn't even his school either. A good while ago, he'd seen the sign: Senba Girl's High School. Which begged the question of why a seventeen-year-old boy would be at a girl's school early in the morning and running like his life depended on it.

Several reasons.

But first, a brief description of the unfortunate young man. Soleil was at least average height, if slightly above the expected margin for a boy his age. It was easy enough to call him skinny. His clothes sagged just a bit on his frame, the otherwise standard uniform set of a white short-sleeved shirt and black pants, though he did have his school's blazer tied around his waist. The shirt's short sleeves showed the white bandages wrapping up along his arms to just past his elbows. Around his neck sat a pair of white, rather stylish headphones. The auxiliary wire connected to them was notably cut in two, left to hang about in the air due to carelessness in removing it, not that it was a priority at the time. Strapped to his back was a white messenger bag with several keychains attached to various characters from the ever-popular HOMU series.

One way the unfortunate young man could be called fortunate was in his looks. Being just a tad androgynous, Soleil was the type of for whom "pretty" was a better descriptor than "handsome" would ever be. His burnt red hair had a few strands of white along the nape and fringe, while the nape stood out as being longer than the rest, pulled back into a low back length ponytail. Azure waters like eyes stuck out against the marble shade of his skin, said eyes darting around as he scanned the area around him.

Now, why was he belting his way over an entrance path like he was running for his life? Simple answer: He was.

In what had to be some kind of cosmic joke, he was being chased by what he could only call zombies. Not quite the shambling dead type, though. Chalk white with shadowed over faces, but expressions that could only be called dead, and with a surprising degree of intelligence. And without being a rotting corpse, virtual mobility despite the shambling. And fitting to the location, many of them were female students of the school.

Because as if the actual apocalypse would be anything like the movies.

"Just my damned luck! Something like this just has to happen when I leave my weapons at home. Wait, did I? Agh! I don't have time to check my bag right now… so I might as well use it. Soleil slammed his foot down to come to a stop, ducking and wheeling his fist around, slamming it headlong into the side of one of the shamblers. From his pocket he pulled out a small object, a knife blade springing from it as he thrust it forward. Threads of blue followed the knife as he carried the thrust to a slash, sending the zombie to the ground with a spray of black blood. "Sorry about that! Better to put you down then let you stay like that!"

Looking behind himself would've been a good idea as well.

"Shit!" Sadly for him, the moment Soleil turned around, he got arm barred by a particularly fast pursuer. He was sent sprawling across the walkway, crashing into a tree only to have one of the branches fall smack on top of his head. "Oww… just my rotten luck."

Soleil flinched as the zombies began turning towards him, standing up as he threw the branch off his head, his knife slashing through the first zombie's side in another burst of blue light, wheeling around and ramming the blade to the base into the chest of the next one to lunge for him, ripping it free and ducking under the next one and throwing a leg up to kick it away.

"Man you bastards are persistent." Soleil groaned as he lifted the knife up and flipped it to reverse hold, eyeing the approaching horde in front and behind him. "This is the worst…"

"Get down!"

Soleil did as the voice commanded without a thought to spare, dropping down to the ground, gunshots following. The same number of thuds sounded as his pursuers dropped like sacks, the bodies fading away in drifts of black mist, leaving Soleil staring at where they had been.

"Geez… who'd have thought there'd be somebody else here?" The same voice from earlier hit his ears as Soleil stood up. His eyes were then met with silver drifting into his view as somebody landed in front of him. The individual was a girl wearing the uniform he recognized as belonging to the school he'd found himself entering the grounds of since it was a relatively common one. As she turned, it became clear she was another foreigner like him. He'd definitely say she was cute, moreso actually. Her pure white face was marked by a curious expression. Her bright blue eyes widened just a bit as she looked at Soleil. Her twin-braided silver-white hair also had a chameleon-shaped clip in the bangs, but there was something else to this girl that Soleil felt for some reason.

Something nostalgic. Like he was looking at the face of an old friend after years of separation. And he had no idea why.

Also, posing how this girl, who as Soleil stood up he could tell was a right margin shorter than him, had a pair of guns in Japan. Not to mention the bandolier of bullets wrapped around her waist and the holsters strapped to her thighs.

How did she get those into the country?! She can't be older than 16… then again, my case isn't much better considering the switch blade and what's in my bag. Soleil thought, giving a sigh.

"A boy? What's a boy doing here at Senba? You lost or something?" The girl said so as she holstered the pistols, the movement causing her skirt to flutter a bit. Though Soleil moreso noticed the odd shape of the firearms. A matching pair of revolvers, blue and silver, underneath the barrels were blades. Small cylinders on the frame crackled with little sparks of electricity every now and again.

"Uh… that's… complicated. But yeah, lost is probably the best word you could use right now. I have a bad sense of direction." Soleil put a hand behind his head as he spoke, feeling somewhat embarrassed at having to admit that. "But thanks for the save."

"I saw somebody in need of help, so that's what I did." The girl said, putting one hand on her hips, using the other to point at Soleil, "It's just what a Kaslana does!"

Kaslana? Is she that guy's kid? Soleil tilted his head as the thought came around… he could've sworn he'd heard that name from somewhere before. "Behind you!"

As the girl started turning around from the call, Soleil bolted past her. His knife cut right through the zombie's neck with ease, more blue light flaring from the cut zone as he skid past.

"And that's another one." Soleil chuckled as he spun the knife on his palm.

"Whoa, you've actually got some skills." Kaslana said, Soleil shrugging as he pocketed his hands.

"Let's just say I'm not unused to this kind of stuff. Now the other question is who the heck you are, Miss Kaslana."

"Right. Well… let's get someplace safe first! Oh, right, names! We need to properly introduce ourselves, right?" The girl said, chuckling. "I'm Kiana Kaslana. I… suppose you could say I'm a Schicksal Valkyrie. Nice to meet you!"

"Kiana? Heh, pretty name. I'm Soleil Empyrean… and Schicksal huh… guess it was just a matter of time." Soleil's amused response was marred, though. He felt a sudden flash in his mind and a burning sensation over his right hand. What he saw was this same moment. Then it moved on. The two fighting through the school, a girl with black hair. Even more than that, an amusement park, a small girl with silver hair and eyes, carrying a yellow doll. And eventually, the three of them faced a massive white creature…

"Hey! Heyyyy! Soleil-senpai! Snap out of it!"

WHACK!

Soleil blinked when he felt a sudden stinging sensation on his face, looking down to see Kiana staring up at him, her hand having lowered. It now settled in; she'd just slapped him across the face. Had he zoned out all of a sudden?"

"What the heck was that? You just went quiet… and why did you start crying?" Kiana brought a hand up to Soleil's face, and he felt her wiping away something warm there.

"I… I don't know." Soleil muttered, wiping off his eyes, reaching into his pocket, and pulling out his phone. The screen had changed. Rather than his regular screensaver, the screen was purely black, only displaying a number and a phrase.

Honkai Outbreak Detected. Chance of Humanity's Survival: 0.000000001%

"Damn… I didn't want to be right about this. If it's that bad, then… no way, one of them can't be showing up, can it?" Soleil had a hand on his chin as he muttered, then he yelped when Kiana casually grabbed his phone, the girl going wide-eyed.

"No way! You know about Honkai?!" Kiana said. Soleil then looked away when her hand went down her shirt. Kiana produced her own phone, and the screen was displaying the same message as his own. "If you've got a phone like this, then… who are you? You're not with those Anti-Entropy guys, are you?!"

"Gods no!" Soleil snapped. "Look, Kiana, right? That's complicated. Besides, as you said, we should get someplace safe first." Soleil pointed off, noting that more zombies were beginning to head towards them, also swiping his phone back from Kiana.

"Right. Come on! We're not far from the library. We can hide there for a bit!"

"Take the lead then, little miss Valkyrie!"

"Seriously? Even the people in the freaking library? Did the entire city go or what?!"

"Well, hey, at least we're close to the source. Makes my job easy."

Soleil hummed as he finished helping Kiana shove a dresser in front of the door in the study room of the library they've hidden in. However, it honestly felt like he had hardly done any of the work in the process. Even if it didn't look like it, he could tell Kiana was a lot stronger than her slender frame suggested.

Be that as it may, dang, she's strong for a girl her size. Dad always said Kaslanas are kinda nuts. Soleil's face remained calm even as he was mentally screaming. He sat down at the table and took his bag off his back, opening it and rifling through the contents. "Come on… I know I keep extra gear shoved deep in here for situations like this…"

"Uhm…" Kiana tilted her head a bit as Soleil started tossing out many things that would now be pretty much useless, mostly school supplies and books for various subjects. "Soleil… senpai?"

"AHA! I knew I left it in here!" Soleil proudly pulled out a black leather bandolier from the bag. Though rather than a holster, for say, a pistol, something else was looped onto the right hip side of it. "Hehehee, dad said to always be prepared!"

"What is it?" Kiana asked, leaning on the table as Soleil put the belt on, the motions to which he did so clearly well-practiced and without much thought. And to answer the girl's question, Soleil flicked the holster opening, drawing a rectangular item from it. With a flick of his hand that spun it, the object quickly folded out. It extended, turning into a longsword, the edge of the blade formed from bright blue energy that left a trail as Soleil spun the weapon around and placed it on his shoulders. "Ehhh?! No way, that's Schicksal tech!"

"Again, kind of a long story." Soleil said, twirling the sword again before reverting it to its smaller form and holstering it, taking one of the seats as he plucked his closed switchblade off the table. "So, I believe you said you're a Valkyrie, right? I would ask what you're doing here, but, well, the situation just outside says enough. Plus, these." Soleil flashed his phone, which still had the projected image on it, Kiana nodding.

"I've actually been here for a while, honestly." Kiana said, sitting down on the table, her skirt fluttering a bit. Soleil spotted white and blue stripes for a moment. "I guess you could say I was on a secret mission! Then uh… well this happened. I got separated from a friend during the start of this. I'm trying to get to her."

The two looked out of the window to the shuffling zombies outside, Soleil just sighing as he stood up. He slung his bag back over his shoulder and pulled black fingerless gloves onto his hands.

"Well, not like we have a lot of options then, do we? I can help you out with finding that friend of yours." Soleil said, kicking aside the bookcase in front of the door with one move. "We're just gonna have to fight our way through and find the Source, right? Once the signal clears up, then your Schicksal pals can do whatever it is they do, right?"

"Yeup, totally…" Kiana chuckled in a way that made Soleil raise a brow. She cleared her throat to draw off from it. "But really, who are you?" Kiana asked, drawing her guns as Soleil put a hand onto the doorknob. He used his other hand to draw out his sword, turning around to face Kiana as he set the weapon over a shoulder.

"Just a traveling student who's fighting the Honkai like you Valkyries." Soleil remarked, snickering. "It's sorta the family business."

"Empyrean… no way, he couldn't be?" Kiana shook her head as she thought. That name was familiar. She knew she'd heard it from somewhere… but, now wasn't really the time to dwell on that, was it? "Alright, let's go! Want me to lead? I am trained for this kind of thing."

"Haha, so am I. But I'm the one with the sword, so I'm on point." Soleil said, Kiana nodding without another word. "Three, two, one…"

Soleil shot out as he threw the door open and vaulted over some of the fallen tables, Kiana hot on his heels. The first zombie that lunged for them met the edge of Soleil's sword just as it came close, the blade cleaving right through in a smooth motion. Soleil followed up by sliding across the floor as another leaped at him. Kiana riddled it with bullets as she shot by. Thankfully considering the time of day, the library wouldn't have been packed. So while the two definitely couldn't go back the way they came, pushing forward at the least wasn't going to involve an absolute horde blocking their path.

Not that it was just that easy. The sprint through the extensive library involved having to duck through the shelves, and the zombies that were present had to be dealt with. And dealing with them primely let the two teenagers show off a bit. Soleil's swordplay was quick and precise. Not a single movement wasted anything as the blade flashed through the air, Soleil supplementing it with acrobatics and kicks or slashes with his switchblade in his left hand. And Kiana may have been using guns herself, but she clearly wasn't slouching in the physical department. Her weapons may have been going off enough to rain bullets around, but they were supplemented by kicks that sent the victims flying back or whipping them with the blades under the barrels.

The run-through was quick as it could be, Soleil and Kiana crashing through the exit and out of the building. They found themselves right on the primary school grounds' foyer, the main academy building looming over.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire has never been truer until now." Soleil murmured, planting his sword in the ground and tapping a finger on it, peering past the wall he and Kiana were pressed up against. The plaza had zombies shuffling all around it, all of them either students or staff. "Sucks there's no way to save these people."

"What'll you do, huh?" Kiana remarked. "People without Honkai resistance of any kind don't have a chance when an outbreak happens, sadly. Putting them down is all we can do for them now. Now let's see… where's the Source at?"

As Kiana pulled out her phone, Soleil did the same. The screen hadn't changed, but now there was another reading below the probability of survival: Distance from Source.

"50 meters. Are we that close already? That's not suspicious at all. At least it tells us the Source is in the school." Soleil grumbled, pocketing the phone and peering around again, Kiana poking her head out under his. "You're the Valkyrie, what do you think?"

"Well, we don't really have a choice by to keep moving now, do we? We just keep heading to the Source and find the target." Kiana said, giving a hum. "I'm not used to this quiet school. Hehe, though now I can be myself."

"Well, then I'll follow you." Soleil readjusted the grip on his sword, snickering a bit. "The counts just gonna keep going up, isn't it?"

Sometime later, Soleil and Kiana had fought their way well into the central building of the academy. A trail of zombies was left behind them, and now things were quiet again in the hallway, letting the two get some breathing room. Soleil was rewrapping one of his arms since, along the way, he'd gotten a few hits, and Kiana also had a bandage wrapped around her left forearm.

"Good thing I keep these things in here." Soleil mused, using his teeth to tear the bandage off, placing the rest of the wrapping back into his back. He pulled out his phone to check their distance. "We're getting close. I've got a bad feeling about what the Source is."

"Ah, don't be paranoid, Soleil-senpai! You've got me with you. It'll be fine!" Kiana said. Soleil hummed as the girl started walking again.

"Why do you call me 'senpai'? Just curious." Soleil murmured, Kiana giving a hum.

"Well, I mean, you are older than me, right? So that makes you my senpai." Kiana hummed herself, also checking her phone. "But we need to be careful now. This close to the source, the zombies are going to keep being drawn to it. But so long as we're quiet, we should be able to…"

BOOOM!

The two teenagers flinched as the air flashed, and the cracking boom split the air. Looking out, Soleil and Kiana saw that suddenly, the sky had become covered in dark clouds, and lighting was cracking through the view, booming thunder following each strike.

"What the?! There weren't any clouds around not that long ago!" Kiana said, putting a hand to her chin. "Effecting the weather? This is worse than it looks."

"Obviously." Soleil muttered, clicking his tongue. If it is this bad, then we might be dealing with a possible Herrscher… and that's not good no matter how you frame it.

"The noise is just going to rile up the zombies. Let's see…" Kiana pulled her phone up, then turning around towards the classroom they were in front of. "Here? Let's see!"

Soleil nodded as they went up to the sides of the door, Kiana nodding to him after a moment, Soleil throwing the door open, Kiana jumping in and scanning around, Soleil following. The classroom seemed empty, aside from the scattered desks not likely thrown about from the chaos caused once the outbreak started, but then something moved.

Rechecking their phones confirmed for the two what they were looking for had to be right in front of them… right?

"Found ya!" Kiana said, throwing aside some desks… only to stop dead. "Huh? Mei-senpai?! This is where you wound up!"

She was seated against the wall. Despite the fact Kiana charged in and that Kiana and Soleil were clearly armed, the girl didn't even react besides looking towards the two of them. Her waist-length, tied up in parts hair was a bluish-black shade, while her eyes were a bright purple. The black-grey uniform she had was the same design as Kiana's, though, despite the chaos of the day, she looked utterly untouched at all.

"Kiana-chan?" The girl said, looking from Kiana to Soleil.

Wait… I saw this girl in that weird flash I had. Soleil thought… though he also realized he recognized her from elsewhere too. "Wait… Mei Raiden… you're the ME Co.'s heiress!"

"Eh, you know her?" Kiana gasped.

"Hard not to." Soleil said. "Especially after everything that made it into the news."

"Right, all of that." Kiana murmured, blinking as Mei let out a hiss. "Hey c'mon Mei-senpai, he's not a bad guy. Don't worry about him, he's with me. Look, we need to get out of here. Can you move?"

"I'm not hurt." Mei said, standing with Kiana keeping a hand near her, looking at Soleil with a lidded gaze. "Who are you anyway?"

"Soleil Empyrean. I did go to the boy's campus… till this morning anyway." Soleil flashed the roman two pin on his shirt's collar. "You and me are in the same grade." He glanced back when the door started rattling as the zombies began slamming into it. "That's not good."

"We don't really have time to linger around, so c'mon Mei-senpai, we're getting out of here." Kiana grabbed Mei by the wrist and began to pull her along. As Mei brushed passed Soleil, a sudden jolt went up his arm, causing both to jump back in surprise. A trace of blue light drifted off both from where they'd brushed against each other. Kiana glanced back with a surprised look. "What happened?"

"N-Nothing." Soleil muttered, looking at the spot on his arm. Things only react like that when I encounter strong Honkai sources… is Mei the Source? he just shook his head. "There's no time to waste. We should get moving and find a safe spot before those zombies overrun the school. We'll need to make our way into the city somehow after that."

"Sounds like a plan. Just stick with us Mei-senpai, we'll be out of here in no time!" Kiana chuckled as she raised one of her guns.

"Let's just go!" Soleil snapped, tossing his sword as a zombie shuffled into the room, the blade going right into the shambler's head before he dashed forward and ripped it out. Kiana nodded and grabbed Mei again, the other girl not even resisting as she started getting pulled along into the hallway.

The run went for a while as Soleil and Kiana had to add more to the fight management, with Mei being next to literally dragged along in her confused state. But she also hardly seemed phased even as the other two cut down zombie after zombie as they made their way up the next floor. The trio moved to hunker down in another classroom, Kiana and Soleil shoving several desks in front of the doors. By now, the thunderstorm was accompanied by rain coming down hard enough to be heard slamming against the building.

"Ah geez, this just isn't ending, is it?" Soleil muttered, sitting down at one desk and throwing his feet on it. He pulled out his phone to read it, and the reading said five meters, his eyes moving right to Mei, who was just standing around now.

"Yeah, and if this keeps up, these things are gonna overheat something bad." Kiana muttered, rolling the chamber on one of her guns. "We need to find supplies too, something to last us once we're in the city. And now we have an extra… not that it's bad you're with us, Mei-senpai! This has got to be really sudden, yeah?"

"Why did you two save me?" Mei said, Kiana looking at her like it was stupid to even ask that.

"Haaa? Why would I not? We're friends aren't we?" Kiana responded, putting her hands to her hips, Mei just giving a sad sigh.

"Kiana-chan, maybe it would just be better to leave me. Besides, he knows to… just like everyone else around me." Mei looked over at Soleil, the boy just looking to the side a bit.

"Ah c'mon, I said he's not like that!" Kiana waved a hand. "I mean sure Soleil-senpai and I just met, but you know I'm good at reading people." Possibly debatable. Soleil kept the snark to himself. "There's no reason to go giving up now. C'mon, this is nothing!"

"Is it really?" Mei muttered.

"As long as you can see a way out, of course." Soleil stated, standing from the desk. "As long as you're alive and can fight, there's always hope to get out something. My family's got a saying: Rewrite your story into something of your own."

"Rewrite the story?" Mei murmured, Kiana popping up and nodding.

"That's good advice! Just change things when they go wrong, right?" Kiana said, Mei's look growing into one of perhaps twisted revelation.

"Change things… yes… I'm not wrong. It's this world's fault. I should just destroy this world!" The words were quiet, under Mei's breath, though Soleil was able to catch them. And he did not look pleased with hearing it. And then the lightning crashed again. And it was like the moment froze during the flash of pure white.

"The hell?!" Soleil yelped, looking around the new space of white.

"And now we find ourselves here yet again." A voice spoke… Soleil didn't know it, but, at the same time, he felt like he did know it. He turned around and found himself facing a ball of sky-blue light. "Always this moment, a moment where fates cross together at the end of the world."

"Okay, this has just gotten weird." Soleil said, the orb giving a laugh. "Seriously, what the hell?!"

"Those answers will come later. But for now, know that fate has already changed long before now, young Empyrean."

With that all too cryptic saying, Soleil felt like he snapped out of a trance as the flash ended, finding himself back in the classroom with Kiana and Mei. And that weird feeling from Mei. He could swear he then saw her eyes flash for a moment.

"Kiana, something's wrong." Soleil said, Kiana stepping back herself.

"Yeah, I can see that!" Kiana said, Mei giving a chuckle as lightning crashed again. "What's wrong with this weather?! Is it the Honkai energy affecting things? Mei-senpai?!"

And at the same time, Kiana and Soleil's phones rang at once. And the screens showed the same message on them: Honkai source detected. Zero meters. And that was when the signal cut off, the two phones going black.

"This is not good." Soleil muttered, his hand gripping his sword that much tighter.

"If I can destroy this world… everything will be better… father, my friends… can they come back to me?" Mei was speaking like she was talking to someone else, and a moment later, she shot off, rushing out of the room as she threw the doors open.

"Hey, where are you going? Stop! Mei-senpai!" Kiana shot after, and Soleil was quick to follow, though as they leaped out into the hall, he was struck by something. A feeling of déjà vu… he felt like he had seen this situation before. No… more like he felt like something was repeating, something he'd already been through.

"Tch, no time to think about it!" Soleil just clicked his tongue and kept following. There wasn't time to think, only time to act. "The hell has this day turned into?!"