"Today, we'll be covering the history of Honkai in that Eastern nation."
With a gentle smile, Welt held a history textbook in one hand and swept his gaze across the classroom filled with Valkyries.
However, the corner of his eye lingered suspiciously on a certain green-haired girl who seemed far too excited.
Perhaps sensing his stare, C.C. toned down her excitement just a little but she couldn't help reminiscing about the blissful night before that Nagami felt.
From what Nagami felt being transmitted through her she felt a little restless last night, to the point she started to play with herself.
Honestly, Nia really got Nagami.
Otaku to otaku romance was the last thing that he expected, and that girl was an otaku that filled her brain with questionable doujinshi plot.
"In 2717 BCE, the first Honkai phenomenon occurred in southern Asia. Mutated animals infected by Honkai energy began appearing, these were the earliest known Honkai Beasts."
The heiress Kiana listened intently, comparing this version of history with the one from her own world.
While true Kiana cast a glance at the sleeping sea slug beside her and shook her head helplessly.
"Back then, the land of Shenzhou was still in a tribal-clan phase. Civilization was only beginning to flicker to life. And yet…" Welt paused slightly, then tapped the chalkboard to emphasize the next point.
"A Judgment-class Honkai Beast appeared, one so massive it could swallow an entire city in a single bite its name was Chiyou. It rampaged across the land, leaving Shenzhou in utter ruin."
At this, C.C.'s golden eyes narrowed slightly.
Normally, the scale of Honkai outbreaks correlates directly with the level of civilization.
The stronger the civilization, the more powerful the Beasts.
But Chiyou? That thing couldn't possibly have come from the primitive world of 2000 BCE.
Even the fiercest mutated animal shouldn't have evolved into an energy-wielding Honkai Beast.
No, its birth had to be linked to survivors from the Previous Era.
There was no other explanation.
C.C.'s gaze shifted to Fu Hua sitting attentively in the front row—but her expression remained calm, unaffected.
Clearly, Fu Hua no longer remembered anything from that era.
After the initial arrival of the Honkai, one of the contingencies left behind by Dr. MEI of the Previous Era was activated: The guardians of the Tenth Divine Key, the Xuanyuan Sword—Fuxi and Nuwa.
Awakened by the surge of Honkai energy, they passed on their ancient knowledge to the people of that time, teaching them how to fight back.
With the help of techniques inherited from the Previous Civilization, humanity found it easy to fend off threats matched to their level of development.
It was like queuing up a Bronze-tier player in ranked, only to have a Diamond-tier coach show up and play for you.
This blatant cheating of the rules? That's what summoned Chiyou.
It was almost certainly a Honkai Beast created specifically to sever the chain of inheritance from the Previous Era—an evolutionary backlash.
Eventually, the two girls discovered a warrior worthy of wielding the Xuanyuan Sword: Ji Xuanyuan.
The golden blade awakened the Stigmata buried in her bloodline, granting her the power to resist the Honkai.
According to the records, destroying a Judgment-class Honkai Beast was nearly impossible.
While Ji Xuanyuan could pierce Chiyou's defenses with the Divine Key, defeating it alone was out of the question.
And so, for the sake of the people, Fuxi and Nuwa sacrificed their lives to seal away two of Chiyou's cores.
Ji Xuanyuan then used the Xuanyuan Sword to entomb the beast in the depths of the Nine Netherworlds, giving her life to complete the seal.
A tragic and magnificent epic indeed.
As C.C. recalled the "Xuanyuan" arc of Honkai history, she nodded to herself with an elegant smile.
But in the very next moment…
That smile froze on her face.
Suddenly, she stood up from her seat, startling the Valkyries around her.
Under the confused gaze of Welt, she blinked forward to the window.
Her golden eyes locked on the distant horizon.
Northeast direction.
———————————————————————
The East China Sea.
"…It's said that on that fateful day, Ji Xuanyuan's battle with the demon beast blotted out the sun. Day turned to night, the world lost its light.
The clash lasted for three full months before peace returned. Our great ancestors gave their lives to defeat the beast."
With practiced inflection, the tour guide wearing a sunhat continued her speech to the curious tourists.
"To honor her sacrifice, the island where she fought Chiyou was named 'Xuanyuan Island' by later generations."
The surrounding tourists listened with quiet reverence.
None of them noticed the subtle shift in the air.
Tiny particles—unholy, violet specks that chilled the soul just by looking at them—floated silently through the sky.
The first sign that something was wrong came when someone screamed.
"W-What is this?!"
"Ahhh!"
Panic erupted.
One man who merely brushed against a cluster of purple particles began to tremble violently.
In less than three seconds, the corruption spread across his entire body and then he collapsed, lifeless.
'Thud.'
The sound of his body hitting the ground was like a starting gun.
The purple particles surged, latching onto everyone nearby.
Most people screamed and writhed for a few seconds before falling silent forever.
But a few women managed to endure the pain and remain standing. And when they rose again…
They looked different.
It was like watching a magical girl transformation in reverse.
Their skin turned porcelain white.
Their clothing melted away and reformed into elegant, obsidian-black dresses.
And in those crimson eyes burned with only two things:
Destruction.
And bloodlust.
They then began slaughtering the nearby survivors with the weapons that had manifested during their "transformations."
Without a doubt, they were the kind of "magical girls" straight out of a Gen Urobuchi nightmare.
———————————————————————
—The Nine Netherworlds.
In the vast, shadowy depths of an endless sea, silence reigned eternal.
No sound, no light—completely cut off from the world above.
A golden sword floated quietly in the pitch-black void.
Suddenly, sinister violet-black particles surged forth like a virus, crawling across the blade in an instant.
Even the blood-red gem embedded in the hilt was tainted, glowing with a malevolent, unnatural light.
And then, in the blink of an eye, the silence shattered.
A flood of fine, violet-black particles erupted from the imaginary space, so thick and numerous they began to tint the surrounding seawater.
The sound of shattering glass echoed through the silent deep, eerily crisp. Within the sealed space, countless fractures began spreading under the pressure of the Honkai energy—threatening to rupture entirely at any moment.
Then, at last, the seal broke completely, dissolving into countless motes of light.
Like a dam bursting, the torrent of violet-black energy surged into the form now emerging from the rift.
Nearby sea regions were rocked by powerful tremors.
Flocks of birds burst from the forests, wings fluttering in panic.
Insects shrieked and screeched with frantic intensity.
Trees snapped like twigs under the overwhelming pressure, crashing down in every direction. Leaves rained from the sky like falling snow.
[Alert: High-density Honkai energy signature detected near Xuanyuan Island!]
[Current output: 800 HW… 900 HW… 1000 HW…]
At the Schicksal outpost stationed at the edge of Shenzhou, the Valkyries turned pale as they stared at the barrage of red warning screens.
Meanwhile, the people on the ground stood frozen, staring in disbelief at the distant horizon where the sea met the sky—witnessing a scene they would never forget.
"What… is that!?"
"A monster?!"
From the surface of the once-peaceful sea, warped ripples began to rise, like soft paper being torn.
Then a massive shadow emerged from beneath Xuanyuan Island.
The small island, which had stood for who knew how many years, was instantly obliterated by the sheer mass of the creature beneath it.
What appeared was a colossal monstrosity, suffocatingly massive—like a titan born from myth.
The ancient beast, sealed in the deep sea for millennia, had finally awakened.
With just a single step, waves exploded into the sky like torrential rain, forming waterfalls in reverse that spiraled upward into cyclone-like whirlpools.
"ROAR!!"
Twin eyes gleamed with radiant, otherworldly color as they shot out beams of condensed light.
The beast threw back its head and roared into the heavens.
A pulse of dark purple-black light burst from its mouth, forming a glowing cocoon above its head.
Its roar split wind and sea alike, releasing a deluge of water weighing tens of thousands of tons.
Even heaven and earth trembled.
Volcanic craters near the coast belched thick plumes of smoke in response.
Thankfully, the titanic Honkai Beast—so massive it blotted out the sky—didn't immediately move.
Instead, it remained rooted in place, as though guarding something.
Its blazing crimson eyes were fixed intently on the dark, cocoon-like mass floating above it.
That ominous cocoon was absorbing Honkai energy from all directions… as if nurturing something within.
When Honkai energy levels exceed 1000 HW, the birth of a divine Apostle—known as a Herrscher—is inevitable.
And there, standing closest to Chiyou, was someone already deeply tainted by Honkai after centuries of slumber.
Although this individual wasn't in a proper state to become a Herrscher, the Honkai Will intervened—altering them for that very purpose.
Typically, when a Herrscher is born, a powerful accompanying Honkai Beast emerges as well.
Like how the dragon Benares appeared alongside the Herrscher of the Void.
But this time was different.
The massive burst of energy that should have birthed a Judgment-class Honkai Beast—was devoured entirely by Chiyou.
It wasn't that Chiyou needed that power to break the seal.
Rather, it broke the seal first, regained its peak strength, then absorbed all the surrounding energy—simply to guard the birth of the Herrscher.
Even as the energy swelled, Honkai power continued to pour from the imaginary space, flooding into Chiyou like a river of light.
And the moment this Honkai surge began—
—was the exact moment Nagami returned from the Date A Live world to this one.
———————————————————————
"…Could it be?"
Nagami, now back in his room at St. Freya's dormitory, stood silently, his eyes fixed on the eastern sky.
Behind him stood a Spirit who wielded the power of time… and the queen of the Apocalypse Virus herself.
It seemed Honkai-sensei had finally grown tired of helping students cheat on their exams.
Now, it was time to crank up the difficulty.
———————————————————————
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