Legend:
"Hey" = Talking/muttering/whispering
Hey = Thinking
「Hey」= Talking through a radio line/somewhere else
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The bell tolls for lunch and students--freshmen or those in higher college levels--quickly rush out to eat, either in the school cafeteria or outside. Others eat anywhere because they brought their own food.
Meanwhile, with no Reiatsuka in sight, I follow Rio, my brunette best friend who insists that she wants to show me a game that I will most definitely like.
I wonder if it's that game... If I remember correctly, she was the one who introduced me to that game in my past life, but I refused her... I wonder what would happen if I did not...
I think to myself as we arrive in a secluded part of the rooftop where I immediately take out a lunchbox from my bag and my phone as well.
"So... What's the game that you want me to try out, Rio?" I ask, opening my lunch box on one lap while keeping my phone on the other. As I ask, the wind blows past us offering a sense of comfort and coolness amidst the heat of the summer.
Rio takes out her phone and opens it before enthusiastically speaking, "So there's this game made by a chinese company called miHoYo! The game's name is Honkai Impact 3rd, and it even has multiple manga under its name!" She opens her gallery, showing my screenshots of different mangas with Chinese letters, and the entry look of the game.
I see, that's pretty nice... But it's called manhua, not manga!
I think to myself, controlling my expression and keeping my displeasure to those who got the three terminologies about the most known eastern comics. I look at the screenshots myself, especially the screenshots of the game.
"Come on! You should give it a try!" Rio exclaims, practically beaming with excitement. I click my tongue, rolling my eyes before smiling.
"Alright, alright... I'll try it," I mutter before chuckling, my fingers swiping through my phone, already searching for the game in the play store and downloading the game. As the game downloads, Rio gives me a quick run down of the premise of the game. As I listen to her explanation of the game's premise, my mind starts to connect some similarities from the monsters of the game and the monsters that humanity has faced during my last retry of my life. However, I haven't heard of a being called a herrscher so I need to look that up... Possibly in the game's manhuas.
Maybe I can find out the full extent of the honkai through this game... Their weaknesses... How they operate... It was fucking idiotic of me to refuse playing this game! Still, I can't blame myself, I didn't know that I'll be facing these honkai beings... But now, I'll do everything I can to know everything about them!
My mind raises with thoughts while I intently listen in on her explanation of the game's premise, "Aight! So, ya got that?" She asks enthusiastically, making me smile and nod. I look down at my phone as she finishes talking, noticing that the game is already done installing.
"Have you played it already?" I ask her as I start to rub the game, encouraging her to start the game as well.
"Eh, not really," she mutters, "I just downloaded this game last night, and also, there are some data in game you'll be forced to download so, it might take some time before you enter the game," Rio notified me just as the game opens to a futuristic elevator. The loading screen starts, analyzing some things before the notification of some needed data to be downloaded opens. Of course, I downloaded them all.
As the game files download, I put it down on my lap and start to eat my lunch, trying not to get my fingers oily or dirty. Unlike in the military, here, I can eat in a relaxed and slower manner, so I decided to take this chance to savor my older sister's cooking.
As the game files download, Rio and I continue to talk about mundane things like some gossip about the school here and there and such while I also continue to eat my lunch. As time passes, the game files download, my lunch dwindles, and the things we talk about starts to lessen more and more.
Finally, after finishing my lunch, the game files downloads completely, letting me access the game at last. However, I did pack my lunch box first before touching my phone. I touch the screen of the phone, and from the elevator, the animation climbs up to the so-called bridge of this ship.
"It does look much better than the screenshots," I mutter looking at the main screen, familiarizing myself with what's in that screen for now before turning to Rio.
"So... What now? Do we just do this tutorial?" I ask and Rio nods, but before I could press the story mode option, she stops me.
"Okay! So, let's do this together, alright? I don't wanna see you getting ahead of me now!" Rio jokes, making me roll my eyes, but still, I agree with her proposition. We press the story mode together, the option taking us to the first chapter of the story which displays the level "Chapter 1-1." We press the level and it displays the description of the level. At the bottom right is where the start option lies
"Okay! In three we press the start button," I propose, looking at Rio whose head nods in understanding.
"One..."
"Two..."
"Three!"
At the vount of three, both of us press the start button. However, instead of the level greeting us, a bright white light suddenly comes from our phones. The light gets brighter and brighter fast, making us cover our eyes before we might get blinded by the lights.
<||—<—<•>—>—||>
As I open my eyes, what greets me is not my phone in my hand, nor is it the building rooftop. Instead, I arrive in a white room, but not just any white room. The room looks as if lights dance around, turning tangible and creating this plane of existence where I stand perplexed right now. Under the gauze around my neck, my bite tattoo grows hot as if restless.
"Fuck..." I wince, taking the gauze around my neck off and putting my hand on the bite tattoo. I don't know what it is, but it seems to work, and now it only pulses warmth--like that of a loved one hugging me. The warmth from the bite tattoo seems to calm me down, making me think clearly.
"Where the fuck...?" I ask, and no one answers. Truly, I expected this outcome when I noticed that only I am in this plane or dimension. Still, I can't help but try and say something, hoping that someone or something would hear, be it danger or safety.
Suddenly, I feel a presence behind me. I don't know how but ever since returning back in my college days, my senses have been much sharper, almost as if amped up to the like of a superhuman. Maybe that's why I have an itching need for a cloth of a handkerchief and ear muffs to cover my ears and nose. Not just that... I also feel like I've gotten stronger, even stronger than when I was in the military.
Maybe it's because of Reiatsuka, but I'm not complaining.
"Well, what do we have here? Someone interesting at last!" I turn around, seeing a chinese man with his arms stretch out to his side as he leisurely walks up to me. With my heightened sense of sight, I'm able to notice every little thing about him. Every single reaction, no matter how small they are.
"Identify yourself, unknown entity!" I exclaim, cautiously observing him as he walks closer to me. He looks like a normal human, and my senses don't scream danger, but anyone who appears suddenly in a dimension of tangible light elicits a high enough danger level for me to not let my guard down no matter what.
The man chuckles before standing still, his hands moving to his pockets. With a smirk on his face, he says, "Don't be too alarmed, Y/N! I am only here to welcome you and three others into this game as the first ones to play it on the global server," the man speaks, his words catching my attention and curiosity.
Three others... So I'm not the only one... I should've guessed as much when I saw Rio's phone glow as well
I think, and as those thoughts swirl in my mind, words begin to come out of my mouth, "Did you welcome a girl named Rio here as well?" I ask, worried for my best friend who may have been out in danger right now.
"Who knows~?" The man answers.
She's definitely out there... In whatever world it is like
"Well, so much about that, let's get straight to the point," The chinese man says, snapping his fingers, and letting a ball of light manifest in between us. The man points towards the ball of light.
"Go on, touch it and see what weapon you get!" The man enthusiastically explains, albeit briefly. Without nowhere else to go, nor anything else to do, I push my hands into the ball of light, eliciting the ball of light to expand instantly, taking me once more.
<||—<—<•>—>—||>
Once I open my eyes I feel the wind blowing through my face, my body, my hair, making me realize just where I am.
I'm sky diving through the air and down to some unknown city! Worse than that, I have not uckign parachute! That fucking guy! I'll fucking kill him once I see him again!
I know that I've skydived before in my last retry in life during my deployment, but I have a parachute at that time! And I wasn't instantly teleported in the air!
Fuck... I'll have to stick my landing somehow and not die!
I think to myself as I look for the tallest building near me. Once figuring that out, I propel myself to that building before changing positions so that my feet hit the rooftop first. Then, as seconds fly by, the rooftop of my chosen building comes closer...
And closer...
And closer...
And then my feet hit the rooftop hard, shattering the ground beneath me and anything around me for five meters. Using the momentum, I roll through the rooftop ground, my body being dragged across the ground before stopping near the edge of the rooftop.
I breathe heavily, panic slowly calming down as I slowly stand back up, my knees buckling under what just happened. Before long, I am already standing from the ground, albeit my knees are weak and my body is battered from the fall. Yet, I notice that those bruises are quickly healing, and I feel the warm sensation emanating from the bite tattoo.
Reiatsuka... I guess this tattoo's not so bad...
I think to myself before setting my attention to my current situation. I look down at my arms, noticing that a sleek metallic void-like gloves made from a very flexible material cover my entire arms, and embedded into the gloves are sleek metallic gray paddings that are flexible enough to be stretched. Under my clothes from my neck down to my feet, I can feel a sleek, soft, and comfortable body suit covering my entire body, and I can also feel the sleek metallic paddings all over the vital areas of the bodysuit.
I guess I also have a black combat boots now instead of my school shoes.
After assessing what I'm wearing, I look around to notice the chaotic surroundings that I've landed on, "Fuck... I was just having my lunch with Rio... And now this... Motherfucker," I mutter before walking to the edge, looking down to the city below. I survey the city underneath me, noticing that, at the least, the civilians are properly evacuated beforehand.
"Now... Where should I go?" I look around, finding nothing around me or below me, so I set my sights up to the sky, noticing the massive airborne ship up in the sky.
"I guess I'll have to go--" I start to talk, but as I talk an explosion happens east of me, a fighter jet flies west of me, and honkai beast roars south of me, adding to the almost unbearable noises happening to the north.
"MOTHERFUCKER!" with my hearing hurt and irritated, I shout, covering my ears. Meanwhile, the smoke, gas, flames, and every single scent all around me starts to unbearably stimulate and irritate my sense of smell, overwhelming my newly heightened senses.
Fuck... Either I cover these ears and the nose of mine... Or I get used to it...
As if reading my mind, nanomachines comes out of my bodysuit from out of the fucking nowhere, forming a mask for my lower face and a cover for my ears, slightly dampening the noise and the smell around me, making it bearable enough.
With that problem out of the way for now, "Again, how am I gonna go to that ship?" I ask myself, setting my heightened sights to the airborne ship where those seraph honkai beasts gather around, and attacking fighter jets that dares come close.
Just then, I hear a fighter jet behind me making me look back to see a fighter jet heading straight for me. This situation put a crazy idea into my head, one that I wouldn't even consider even if there's nothing else to consider.
What if I jump on top of a fighter jet? It's a crazy idea but... It might work...
The fighter jet closes in fast, and I jump up, high enough to land on the fighter jet. However, the momentum almost pushes me off the jet, until I duck down and stick my fingers into the metal back of the jet, stopping myself from flying away.
•
•
•
As I near the ship, I notice something I thought I would never see: someone fighting the honkai beasts up close.
How insane would you need to be to fight those monsters head-on?
I ask myself, shaking my head in amusement as I time my jump. As I near the outside platforms where the white haired figure is fighting the honkai beasts, I jump from the fighter jet, the force behind my jump obliterating the fighter jet in half surprising me. However, I have no time to be surprise by such a thing so I focus back down to the battlefield below, preparing myself and tucking my knees, and as the floor gets close, I shoot my legs out, striking the metal floor with such a force that it not only dents the metal, but it also cracks the surroundings, and staggers the land borne honkai beasts.
The white haired girl looks at me as I walk out of the small crater I made earlier, looking surprised, "HUH?! WHO ARE YOU?!" The white haired girl shouts her question with her somewhat squeaky voice, irritating my already heightened ears, and making my mood pretty sour.
Her shout makes me wince as well, visibly at that so the look of worry that strikes her expression is pretty satisfying. That is to say that I do not enjoy making others worry for me, but it feels quite good when people take accountability.
"Please don't shout, my ears are sensitive... Very sensitive..." I tell her as she walks near me. Meanwhile, I survey the surroundings, finding no honkai beasts around before focusing back on her.
"Ah... I'm sorry..." The white haired girl mutters, scratching her cheeks with her index finger while looking away from me. At her apologies, I simply sigh before her voice gets my attention again, "But, really, who are you?" She asks, and there's a certain glint in her eyes, excitement, perhaps? I don't know.
"I'm... Y/N L/N, Y/N so you won't have to awkwardly say my full name or my surname any time," I introduce myself, no use saying I'm just an ordinary person or something similar when my recent feats say otherwise.
"I'm Kiana Kaslana! The bestest valkyrie you'll ever meet!" The white haired girl named Kiana exclaims, although not as loud as before. I smile at her enthusiasm as I cross my arms under my chest.
"Do you say that to anyone you've ever met?" I tease her, raising one of my eyebrows while smirking. However, my tease seems to have the opposite effect as he simply smiles widely and nod before grinning at me, her hands on her hips.
"Yeah! I say that to everyone I've ever met and will meet in the future because it's gonna be true!" Kiana proudly says, making me chuckle and smile softly.
She's so precious... It's almost like looking at a child that you just want to adopt...
I think to myself before walking away, "Well, let's get going... Whatever you want inside, my instinct tells me that I have something to do inside that ship as well," I say, my tone and presence turning serious as I let my arms loose, ready to kill any honkai beasts and zombies that try and stop us.
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The last honkai beast falls at the last platform that Kiana and I jump onto, their strength, variety, and numbers not matching us in terms of skills, precision and pure strength. Kiana and I set our sights onto the next platform, but on that one is another so-called valkyrie fighting a group of honkai beasts and zombies with a katana.
As far as I can see, the woman has dark-purple hip-length hair with indigo eyes. She adorns a pink and black battlesuit, or that's what they're called, but as far as I can see, it's simply an armored one-piece swimsuit with arm gloves and stockings. Still, she does look pretty in her battlesuit.
Before I could move, Kiana already dashes forward, jumping high and dropping a flying kick to a hostile honkai entity that almost attacked the dark-purple haired woman from behind. I simply shake my head and massage my temples at her "instinct first before the strategy" mindset, but I can't help but smile at her enthusiasm.
With a chuckle, I run and jump, the force bending the metal under me and launching me high to the air. With a relatively long air time, I position myself, slanting my body in the air, then as I hit the platform, I use the momentum to perform a few barrel rolls, stopping near the edge of the platform.
I stand up and look at Kiana who's smiling at me, while the dark-purple haired girl looks at me with shock, "Kiana-chan... Who is that?" The dark-purple haired girl asks, muttering each word as she looks at me.
"Oh! Right right, Introductions!" Kiana pulls the dark-purple haired girl closer to me so that she can introduce her to me, "So, Y/N-san, this is Mei-senpai! Mei-senpai, this is Y/N-san! We met earlier!" Kiana does a great introduction of us to each other: clear, concise, and filled only with necessary information.
The so-called Mei bows down 90 degrees, "Nice to meet you, Y/N-san," she greets me. This may be Japan based on the suffix they use and how they bow.
Knowing that, I do the same, "Nice to meet you too, Mei-san," I greet back, bowing 90 degrees as well. After the exchange of greetings, the both of us stand back up straight, "Alright, you're heading to the inside of this ship, right? Do you mind if I tag along? You can call your superiors if you feel suspicious of my presence," I say, talking like a soldier and offering their superior's presence if they ever feel suspicious of me. This is an old tactic that I always use to relieve anyone of their suspicion against me: offer to call their superior and keep yourself calm. That way, there's a higher chance of them being less suspicious of you.
This worked 90% of the time in my previous retry in life.
Still, I have to keep calm just in case she actually calls her superior. I observe Mei's movements, noticing her reaching for her ear.
An earpiece, huh?
I think to myself as possible questions and answers run through my head. I'm pretty sure that Mei is the type to be as cautious as possible, even if she looks and acts kind.
Mei reaches for her earpiece before she speaks, "Major Himeko, Kiana and I have rendezvous. We are currently heading for the aft of the ship," she reports, her face turning serious while Kiana simply yawns as she looks around.
「Good, make sure to keep a close eye on your surroundings and the types of honkai creatures that you'll encounter.」
With my heightened sense of hearing--although slightly dampened--I hear another woman speak through the earpiece, her voice mature and serious.
That must be their superior or squad leader
I think to myself, wondering what kind of life I will pull off to keep their suspicions off of me. I listen in more to their conversation while looking around, keeping my footsteps silent.
"Understood, Major Himeko," Mei replies as she looks at me with kind eyes, yet I can see the suspicion hiding beneath. Meanwhile, she looks at Kiana doing random things with an exasperated look, but her smile holds a different meaning.
「Also, make sure to take a close look and attention to Kiana... who knows what she'll do unattended...」
The woman named Himeko speaks through their earpiece, and of course Kiana hears it through hers as well, "Hey! What do you mean by that, aunt Himeko!? Hmph! I can take care of myself!" Kiana shouts into the earpiece, making me slightly wince while she acts angry, but I can see the glint in her eyes.
「Keep your voice down, girl! You're gonna deafen me earlier in this career...」
Himeko scolds Kiana who just pouts and crosses her arms. Meanwhile, I look at Mei, waiting for her to report my presence to her squad leader Himeko.
"On another note, Major Himeko, we have an encounter with someone named Y/N L/N," Mei reports, "I'm unsure about their gender, but they're currently standing here with Kiana and I," with her report, the air around us seems to get heavier, and the feeling of unease creeps upon my being.
「I see... have you confirmed which Valkyrie squad they're from?」
The one called Himeko asks, while Mei shakes her head and replies with, "No, Major Himeko, I haven't identified their Valkyrie squad yet, but they did offer to talk to you," her voice echoes softly, and as if sending something, the air around Mei seems to grow heavier, but that heavy feeling doesn't seem to come from Mei herself... It's more so coming from the one called Himeko.
「Let me talk to them.」
With that one line, Mei passes me the earpiece, then one of my ear muffs opens up so that I can put the earpiece in my ear. "Yes, ma'am?" I ask, not knowing if saying her name would put more suspicion on me.
「Identify yourself, stranger」
Himeko simply says, her voice is serious. I open my mouth to answer, but before I could, I feel the bite tattoo in my neck pulse, and as if common knowledge to me, I answer, "I am Y/N L/N, third member of the Squadron VI, Squadron leader, Reiatsuka Romanov."
「I see... very well then, please coordinate well in this mission」
"Affirmative," I answer her before Himeko hangs up. One of my ear muffs open once more and I take the earpiece out and give it back to Mei, "Well, it seems I'll be in your care, Mei-san," I smile at Mei before we get going, putting our attention back to the mission
<||—<—<•|•Some Place Else•|•>—>—||>
Himeko walks through the hallway of an academy, her outfit fitting for her curves. She walks up to an elevator. Before her presence, the elevator opens immediately, as if sending her presence.
The elevator goes up, stopping only at the highest level of the academy building. The elevator doors open, and out she comes, the red haired woman walks out, arriving at the hallway where special rooms like the guidance counselor or the principal's office are located.
Himeko walks through the hall, arriving in front of the principal's office where she knocks on the door. Inside, she hears some shuffling before the words, "Come in!" Is uttered by a squeaky voice.
She must've been reading some of those mangas of hers
Himeko thinks, shaking her head before opening the door and coming in. Once inside, she closes the door and heads straight for the short white-haired principal behind the desk.
"What do you want, Himeko?" The white haired short woman asks, raising one of her eyebrows and locking eyes with the hazel-color-eyed woman.
With a serious expression and voice, Himeko says, "Theresa, can you search the school's database for anyone named Y/N L/N? It's important," she asks, and upon just one look, Theresa, the white-haired principal nods, seeing the seriousness of the situation.
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