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ArabicHonkai Impact: My Power Grows When Valkyries Fall For Me — Chapter 39
Chapter 39: The Early Days of the Collapse
With the unconscious Mei secured on his back, Lucian handled the chaotic streets alongside Kiana.
In the initial, violent throes of the Honkai Eruption, a tide of newly born Death Soldiers had flooded the city, wandering aimlessly through the ruins. Survivors were few and far between. Pockets of residual energy from Honkai detonations lingered in the air like invisible minefields, and a thick, choking dust permeated everything.
A faint warmth bloomed from Lucian’s right eye. In his vision, the flow of Honkai Energy—a phenomenon utterly invisible to ordinary people—materialized as a web of shimmering, violet trajectories. Using this sight, he steered them clear of the high-energy reaction zones, guiding Kiana along a path that was, for the moment, relatively safe.
“Where are we going?” Kiana asked, her voice tight with tension. She scanned their surroundings with a hunter’s vigilance, the baseball bat in her hands now stained with the grime of their journey.
“First, we need to find someone…” Lucian’s voice was low and strained. He adjusted his grip on Mei with one hand while pulling out his phone with the other. He tried to call Bronya, but as he expected, there was no signal. They were deep within the core of the Eruption, where the sheer density of Honkai Energy smothered all conventional communications.
“Can’t reach her for now,” he murmured, tucking the phone away. “Let’s head for an area where the energy is thinner.”
——————
They passed through what was once a bustling commercial district, Lucian leading the way with Mei’s dead weight a constant, heavy reminder of their plight.
Ahead lay a park. Lucian recognized it instantly; it was the same park where he and Kiana had shared cake during their first outing together.
But the memory was a ghost, haunting a scene of complete devastation.
The slide had been shattered by a lightning strike, its twisted metal frame impaled deep into the sandpit below. The edges of the mangled steel still bore the blackened, charred marks of the impact. Of the swing set, only a single chain remained, dangling forlornly, its empty seat half-buried in the cracked earth.
The bench where they had once sat was still there. Only now, a body lay upon it.
It was a female student, dressed in the uniform of St. Freya Academy. She was lying on her side, her face turned away from them. She looked so young—perhaps only sixteen or seventeen. A massive, charred hole gaped in her chest, its ragged edges encrusted with a sickening ring of crystalline Honkai formations.
Kiana’s footsteps faltered, her boots grinding to a halt on the debris-strewn path.
Her gaze was locked on that horrific wound. The Honkai crystals blooming at its perimeter refracted the dim, gray light into an eerie, purple gleam.
“She…” Kiana’s voice caught, a strangled sound in her throat.
“She’s dead, Kiana,” Lucian said, his tone unnervingly calm, a calmness that bordered on cruelty.
He stopped a few steps from the bench, Mei still resting on his back. He didn’t look back at Kiana, only turning his head slightly.
“In this city, there are countless bodies just like this. Because this… this is what the Honkai is.”
His voice was low, firm, each word a heavy stone. “It won’t stop for anyone’s grief or anger.”
Lucian finally turned around completely, his gaze meeting Kiana’s directly.
“…”
This was the first time Kiana had ever seen such an expression on his face. It was a harrowing mixture of helplessness, deep self-blame, and a weariness so deep it seemed to have settled into his very bones.
This wasn’t the Lucian who always wore a gentle, reassuring smile. This Lucian was tired—tired for reasons she couldn’t begin to fathom.
“Lucian, what’s wrong with you…?” Kiana’s throat felt tight as she spoke, her voice barely a whisper. She didn’t understand the source of his pain, but a sharp spike of worry pierced through her own shock.
“…It’s nothing. Just feeling a bit powerless, that’s all.” Lucian drew a deep, shuddering breath and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. When he opened them again, the exhaustion and despair had been pushed back, hidden deep within his gaze. He offered Kiana a smile, but it was a strained, brittle thing.
“Don’t worry about me. I can protect you.”
As the words left his mouth, even Lucian felt how hollow they sounded.
He had indeed gained power, a power that could potentially save so many. But he couldn’t wield it yet. He couldn’t resolve everything, couldn’t conjure a perfect, happy ending where not a single tragedy occurred.
For some time now, he had been trying to exert his Authority over the Honkai Energy blanketing Changkong City, hoping to subtly guide it and reduce the number of victims. But the result was a bitter disappointment. He could only influence the energy within a one-kilometer radius of himself, and even maintaining that small sphere of control was already pushing him to his limits.
How many of Changkong City’s citizens would survive this catastrophe?
Lucian didn’t know, and he didn’t dare to guess.
——————
As they walked on, heading toward his home, Lucian’s steps felt heavy.
He hadn’t been particularly attached to this neighborhood before, but now, seeing the familiar streets rendered utterly unrecognizable, a dull ache settled in his chest.
Street lamps were bent at impossible angles. Storefronts were nothing but shattered glass. The sign of the convenience store they frequented lay on the ground, smashed to pieces. The vending machine at the street corner had been crushed flat by some immense force, its contents of drink cans scattered across the pavement like metallic refuse.
Lucian didn’t know what to say, and so he said nothing at all.
“Boss, are you sad?”
A calm, emotionless voice suddenly spoke from behind him.
The voice was so familiar that it took Lucian a moment to even process it. He instinctively started to turn, then remembered Mei on his back and settled for a slow, sideways glance over his shoulder.
About five steps behind him, a petite figure with sharply defined features floated silently, a few inches off the ground.
It was Bronya.
She looked no different from usual, her silver-gray spiral curls perfectly in place, her eyes as calm and still as a frozen lake.
“Huh? Who are you? Where did you come from?!” Kiana reacted instantly, reflexively stepping sideways to position herself between Lucian and the newcomer.
“Bronya Zaychik. Here to protect the Boss.” Bronya’s voice remained utterly flat, but her gaze had already passed over Kiana, landing directly on Lucian’s face.
“Huh? Who’s your boss—wait, what?!” Kiana was about to retort when realization dawned. She turned to look at Lucian, her expression one of pure shock. Her eyes darted back and forth between him and the floating girl, the absurdity of the situation lifting Lucian’s previously suppressed mood just a little.
“Kiana, she’s the person I was looking for,” he explained. “A friend of mine, you could say.”
“A friend?” Kiana stared at the levitating Bronya, the corner of her mouth twitching.
Bronya’s gaze shifted from Lucian’s face to the unconscious Mei, swept over Kiana’s baffled expression, and finally settled back on Lucian.
“Bronya has already found a safe, temporary stronghold nearby, Boss.”
“Lead the way, Bronya,” Lucian replied, not at all surprised by her sudden appearance. “But you might have to wait for me for a bit. There are still some things I need to get from my home.”
‘Now that I’ve found her,’he thought,’I might as well go home first and retrieve the Judgement of Shamash.’
Bronya said nothing more, simply giving a slight nod. She then turned while still floating, leading them down a side street.
——————
Following Bronya, the group soon arrived in front of a building that looked like an unfinished construction site.
Bronya stopped before a rusty, corrugated rolling shutter door. She summoned Project Bunny, which effortlessly gripped the bottom of the door and began to lift it. With a loud groan of protesting metal, the shutter slowly rose, revealing the space within.
The inside was far more orderly than the exterior suggested. The concrete floor had been swept clean. Sealed supply boxes were stacked neatly in a corner, along with several folded cots, tables, and chairs. An emergency light mounted in the corner emitted a faint but steady glow, providing just enough illumination to see by.
“This was originally a temporary warehouse for a construction crew,” Bronya explained, her voice echoing slightly in the empty space. “Bronya cleared the remaining Honkai Beasts inside and has confirmed the environment is safe.”
As she spoke, she had Project Bunny lower the shutter door again, sealing them inside with a final, heavy thud.
Lucian surveyed their new sanctuary and nodded at Bronya, a genuine smile finally reaching his eyes. “Very reliable, Bronya.”
He carefully walked over to one of the cots and gently laid Mei down. Even in her unconscious state, her brow was furrowed, as if she were trapped in a nightmare.
“This place… is pretty good…” Kiana leaned her baseball bat against the wall and began to curiously survey the area.
After a quick look around, her gaze finally settled back on Bronya, her eyes full of questions. She casually ambled closer to the smaller girl, trying her best to appear nonchalant.
“You just called Lucian ‘Boss’,” she began. “When did he become your boss?”
Bronya’s calm gaze turned to meet Kiana’s. A flicker of something akin to pride touched her otherwise placid tone as she replied, “This is an agreement between Bronya and the Boss. It is confidential and cannot be told to outsiders.”