I don't own Honkai. Mihoyo does.
The Honkai. People didn't know where they came from or what they were. But they all knew one thing. The Honkai were bent on destroying humanity and all it had sought to build. It was a force of nature that manifested itself in different forms. Zombies, monsters of different shapes and sizes, and even diseases were all forms that the Honkai took.
To combat the Honkai, humanity banded together and an organization was formed called Schiksal. And from Schiksal came the Valkyries. Women with the power to resist the Honkai scourge as it sought to destroy all that was beautiful in the world. But, even an organization as vast and powerful as Schiksal could not always be there.
The denizens of Kyoto learned that the hard way. Honkai beasts roamed the streets. People were slowly succumbing to Honkai radiation, mutating into zombies that followed after their beastly counterparts.
A woman ran down the ruined street, carrying her son in her arms. Behind her, small white and pink bird-like monsters followed after her. Their three pairs of wings made catching up to the woman rather easy.
The woman screamed as she felt something cut into her back. She fell to the ground, bleeding and shielding her sun as the sanguine lifeforce that sustained her flowed to the ground. A large diagonal cut could be seen on her back. The woman weakly looked up at the monsters surrounding her. A massive alabaster monster with no visible facial features lumbered up towards her. Its massive arms shook the ground slightly with every step. As it neared her, she curled around her son tighter, determined to protect him with her dying breath.
As the beast neared her and prepared to crush her under its heel, a shot rang through the air as the beast's head was blown away. She looked up and watched the thing fall to the ground, dead. Its body slowly dissolved into pink mist and cubes.
"Ma'am, are you alright?" Kiana landed in front of the woman, brandishing her pistols. "A chariot. Chariots and angels…" she muttered. "You need to go now." Kiana looked down at her.
The woman nodded weakly as she shakily got to her feet.
Kiana looked at the woman's bleeding back and sighed. "Go, I'll cover your escape!"
Kiana raised one of her pistols and fired. From the gun's barrel came not a normal bullet, but a blast of fire. The fire cut straight through the angel's carapace, burning it to nothing.
"There's a lot of you," Kiana muttered as more angels arrived. She smiled and ran into the crowd. The angels swarmed her. One angel attempted to slice into her using one of its wings.
Kiana dodged, the angel missing by a hair's breadth. The world then warped, turning violet as time slowed. Kiana flipped back and fired five more shots from each pistol. The shots all hit home, destroying the angels that surrounded her. The violet that stained reality vanished as she landed gracefully on her feet. Around her, the angels all fell to the ground, dissolving.
"Two outbreaks at the same time…" Kiana flipped her hair and looked towards the rest of Kyoto. Plumes of smoke billowed into the air. "Something's going on."
She ran down the road, towards the inner part of the city. "I'd be hard-pressed to call this an outbreak though." Kiana slid underneath a chariot and fired a volley of flaming bullets into its underside, killing it. She hopped to her feet and kicked an angel into a car.
"There's only low-level Honkai beasts here but the number of them are enough to overwhelm local law enforcement," Kiana said. Her blue eyes narrowed when a shadow engulfed her. Acting on instinct, Kiana jumped, the world turning violet once more before she spun around and fired bullets into the chariot's face.
"Hmph." She brushed some of her hair out of the way after landing on the ground. "I might as well get something to bring back for Cecilia." Kiana smiled and walked down the street as the carcasses of the Honkai beasts dissolved around her.
The sun was beginning to hang low over the horizon. Kiana sat at the edge of a rooftop in downtown Kyoto, eating some gyoza she had taken from a food stall. Below her on the road was a mountain of honkai corpses. Their white carapace was tinted orange by the now setting sun.
"That took longer than I thought," she said. But in the end, at least she didn't have to use it in order to take them all out.
"Captain!" Kiana sighed and raised her wrist to her face. Her communicator was going off as the crew of the ship called her.
"What? What is it?" she asked.
"We got word from the 5th Squadron that something happened over in Soukai City. Major Himeko is requesting assistance."
Kiana's eyes widened and her heart clenched. "What? I'm coming back. Call St. Freya and tell Theresa to dispatch a detachment of Valkyries here in Kyoto to clean up. And make sure that you have a sitrep ready for me when I get there."
She got up and began jumping from building to building to get back to the Helios. What the hell? I thought this was just a Honkai suppression.
The elevator opened to the deck of the Helios. The ship's crew were all scrambling, punching in coordinates, and preparing for take-off. Kiana walked to the edge of the bridge's balcony where she crossed her arms.
"Captain!" a woman ran over to her, holding a clipboard in her arms. She heaved as if she was out of breath.
"Calm down and tell me what happened," Kiana said. "I need to know what we're dealing with before we get to Soukai."
"Apparently, from Major Himeko's report, the mission started off as a standard Honkai suppression but they received word that there was a battleship there," the woman said.
"And? Is it a Schiskal ship?" Kiana asked.
"No. Himeko reported that Bronya sent her a message over comms that the ship belonged to Anti-Entropy," she said.
Kiana's eyes widened. Anti-Entropy? In Soukai? What are they doing over there? Kiana gripped the bars of the balcony.
"Are we ready for take-off?" she asked, turning to the woman.
"Yes, we are!"
"Then, go. We have no time to lose. I want to be in Soukai before the sun sets over the horizon," Kiana barked. The woman nodded and ran back down the stairs.
The ship groaned as it slowly flew into the sky. The back thrusters flared to life as it took off, shattering the sound barrier thrice over. As the clouds sped by, Kiana stood there with her arms crossed and her expression grim. She bit her thumb as she thought of Cecilia having another encounter with Anti-Entropy.
"Wait for me, Cecilia," Kiana said.
"Captain!"
"What is it?" Kiana asked, looking down at the crew. Several minutes passed and Kiana was alerted by one of the ship's pilots.
"We've received a report from Major Himeko that the battleship has been rerouted to St. Freya."
"What?"
"One of the Valkyries onboard, Bronya, managed to reroute the ship and they're currently heading back," the personnel said.
"Change course. We're intercepting the ship and escorting them back alongside the Hyperion."
The ship personnel nodded and walked back to his station.
Kiana bit her lip. She had this sinking feeling in her stomach that something more was going on in that ship. The ship lurched as it turned to intercept the rerouted battleship. After several minutes of flying, Kiana managed to see a large onyx ship in the distance.
"We have a confirmed visual of the Anti-Entropy Vessel."
"Good. Get me close to that ship. I'm going inside to retrieve those three," Kiana said.
"Yes, Ma'am!"
Helios turned as it moved to intercept the battleship. As they approached, Kiana noticed a series of destroyed mechs and the corpses of Honkai beasts littering the battleship. "It looks like the ship was guarded but something's off…"
"Captain. We've reached cruising speed and are currently going at the same velocity as the ship."
"Good, maintain speed. I'm going in," Kiana said, walking out of the bridge.
"Mei-senpai! Get down!" Cecilia tackled Mei to the ground, narrowly avoiding a concentrated beam of heat. She looked up and saw Bronya pointing Project Bunny's cannon at them.
"Bronya-chan?" Mei looked at her friend. Bronya didn't say anything. Her battlesuit had changed. She was no longer wearing her St. Freya Valkyrie uniform. Rather she was wearing a skintight black leotard with a skirt outfitted with jet thrusters. Project Bunny now had a black and red color scheme and Bronya's eyes were no longer flint gray. Instead, Bronya's eyes were now blood red and a red line ran down the left side of her face.
"What the hell was that for Bratnya!?" Cecilia screamed.
"Multiple hostile signatures detected." Bronya emotionlessly raised her hand. The air around her glitched as multiple cannons materialized out of thin air.
Cecilia gritted her teeth. She got to her feet and gripped her pistols. "I've been waiting for a chance to beat you. I just never thought I'd get it so soon." Cecilia grinned. She ran towards Bronya.
Bronya raised her hand and fired a hail of bullets. Cecilia rolled out of the way before jumping into the air towards her.
"NEKO CHARM!" She performed a flying kick and a massive cat paw shot out from a dimensional portal above Kiana. The cat's paw collided with Bronya's shield, creating a gust of wind from the impact.
Mei raised her arm, protecting her face from the wind. "Kiana-chan. Bronya-chan." She bit her cheek. Mei gripped her katana and got to her feet. She dashed towards Bronya. "Bronya-chan! Snap out of it!" She swung her blade, cutting into Project Bunny's left arm.
Bronya looked at them with zero emotion in her eyes. She raised her hand. A series of cannons made from pure energy appeared around her. Mei's eyes grew wide as she jumped back. A series of explosions followed after her before she was thrown into the wall by the shockwave.
"Mei-senpai!" Cecilia yelled. She jumped back and ran around Bronya, firing a series of more shots.
Bronya raised her hand and blocked the bullets with Project Bunny.
Cecilia slid to a stop before jumping towards Bronya. She let loose another Neko Charm, this time slamming into Bronya. The impact sent her careening into the wall of the ship's bridge.
"..." Bronya got back up without saying another word. She raised her hand and prepared to fire a laser at Cecilia when the bridge door exploded.
The two turned around. Bronya immediately raised her hand to block a barrage of flaming bullets.
"Nee-chan!" Cecilia said.
Kiana appeared in front of Bronya and fired two more rounds.
Bronya raised her shield once more. However, the shield did not hold up as it did last time. The sheer heat of the shots from Kiana's guns cut through the shield like butter. Her body screamed at her to dodge, narrowly avoiding them. The bullets seared through the floor of the ship.
"Okay, Bronya. Let's just calm down," Kiana said, raising her hand placatingly.
"..." Several energy cannons appeared around her.
"Okay, looks like we're doing this the hard way then." Kiana spun her pistols before charging at Bronya.
"I'm not gonna let Nee-chan outdo me in front of Mei-senpai!" Cecilia shakily got to her feet and charged at Bronya.
Bronya fired the salvo at Kiana. Kiana's body flickered out of existence and appeared behind Bronya.
The small girl quickly turned to face Kiana. However, as she did, Cecilia appeared behind her.
"Neko….!" she kicked Bronya in the back. "CHARM!" the cat's paw shot out from Kiana's foot and slammed Bronya into the wall. Kiana dashed out of the way, dodging Bronya and Cecilia's cat's paw.
"That's one way to do it." Kiana dusted herself off as Bronya slid down the wall unconscious. "Did you really have to squash her like she was a fly?" she gave her sister a look.
"Hey! I knocked her out didn't I?" Cecilia pouted. She stumbled and was about to fall when Mei caught her. "Thanks, Mei-senpai."
"Cecilia!? Mei!? Bronya!?" Cecilia nearly fell in shock as she heard Himeko's voice scream through her earpiece.
"Are you trying to destroy my ears!?" Cecilia screamed back.
"You idiots weren't answering!" Himeko said.
Kiana sighed as she watched her sister argue with Himeko over the commlink. She tapped the communicator on her wrist and tuned to their frequency.
"Major, I'm bringing them back," Kiana said.
"Kiana? Oh thank God you got there!" she said.
"Yeah, I just followed the trail of Honkai carcasses and destroyed mechs to find them fighting each other. I think something happened to Bronya," Kiana said, picking up the unconscious girl.
"Right. Get her back to the ship. We'll have the med bay ready for you when you get here," Himeko said.
"Roger that. Come on you two," Kiana said, walking out of the room.
Kiana stood outside of the medbay room, watching as her sister and Mei talked to Bronya inside.
"I'm thankful you got there when you did." Himeko walked up to her side and looked in.
"I told you to look after her," Kiana said.
"You know that's easier said than done. Cecilia's as free as the wind and trying to contain her is like trying to trap a hurricane inside a butterfly net," she replied.
"What am I going to do with her? The B-Rank exams are coming up and she's still like this," Kiana said, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Let her be her. Cecilia's a grown girl," she said, pulling some beers out of her pocket.
"Thanks," Kiana said, snatching a can from her hand. "Haaaah~!" she let out a satisfied sigh after chugging the can. "That really hit the spot!"
She looked down and held the can. "You know, I was going to use it on Bronya if she kept going like that."
"Hmmm. Pulling that out on a little girl. That's a little too far," Himeko said.
"Good thing Cecilia knocked her out," Kiana said. "Still though, I'm glad she's growing up. Dad would've been happy to see her turn out so strong."
"It's almost that day isn't it," she said. Himeko had seen the look on Kiana's face and sighed.
"I won't be there for the first half of her exams that day. Just keep her distracted for me." Kiana didn't even look at her. A melancholy was now beginning to manifest in her gaze the longer she stared at her younger sister.