Honkai Impact 3rd: Don't Die For Me/ Book 1: Promise

Chapter 36 Onset

<Vienna>

Kallen flashed from roof to roof, alley to alley, saving all she could. The smell of blood and iron mingled with the shrill sensation of fear in the air. Despite her power, despite how many beasts she fell, more would take their place. What's worse was that she couldn't protect everyone, soldiers and valkyries trudged on wounded from the aftermath of battle. Citizens who were unable to escape were met with a gruesome, nightmarish end. Then there was Kallen, the shield of the people. without so much as a scratch on her body as she raced from place to place eradicating all the beasts she could.

'It's here.'

Kallen began to gather energy within her pistol. An emperor-class Honkai beast appeared right before her. Held at bay by a squad of Valkyries and soldiers. She took a breath and calm intent cooled her mind. A well-aimed shot blasted the head emperor class beast into paste. This was the first emperor beast Kallen had taken down tonight. One well-aimed shot was all she needed, the only issue was the amount of time she required to create such a devastating blow. Back at the warehouse, she had spent a good twenty minutes gathering energy to create that massive crater. Now she had to spend the same amount of time amping her bullets for a much weaker effect. It was difficult to refine and gather energy while constantly fighting with beasts. She had eight shots left.

'It's too slow, two per beast.' Kallen thought.

She wanted to save her rounds for dangerous situations and the terror of Vienna warranted such use. Her Kaslana blood boiled as she came across additional grievous scenes. She never felt more disgraceful, her weakness was unacceptable. If she hadn't put the Eleventh out of commission the people would suffer less but she couldn't let the actions of the Eleventh go unpunished.

<Tunnels>

"Watch out!"

Otto was the first to notice the knight-class beast that had crept upon them. On instinct, he pushed Roxanne out of the way and luckily was only grazed by the thrust of the beast's lance-like appendage. Roxanne's eyes focused and she brought her claymore up to slash off the beast's legs. It fell forward and Roxanne came down with a downward spring lopping off the beast's head.

"Shit!"

"Don't lose guard. There's more."

Otto called forth his mimicry as Roxanne hefted her claymore about her shoulders. They stood neck and neck, exhausted yet resistant. A few zombies, some seraphs class beasts, and two chariot class beasts. If the two were in perfect shape this cluster of beasts would pose no threat. But Roxanne was drained of stamina and Otto was running on will and adrenaline. His dominant arm was injured forcing him to shoot with an arm free of burns and experience. He had limited his mishaps to his dominant hand to obscure his actions.

"Take close quarters, those Seraphs are mine."

The pitch dark cave became illuminated by the roars of the Judgment of Shamash. Roxanne's claymore was stained with the gunk of Honkai zombies as she did her best to shield her backline. Otto adjusted his position the best he could and winced as the weapon of Justice hungry ate at his skin and flesh. He could smell it, his burning hairs, the dry oils that permeated from his skin. Holes and cracks formed on the walls as Otto's shots missed their mark one after the other.

"Huff, huff."

Roxanne was out already past her limit. The zombies were all dispatched yet there were two chariot class beasts left. Her sword felt like an anvil made of lead, she brute-forced her way through one of the beasts. The last of her strength was used up as the other pounced on the opportunity, and launched itself at Roxanne. Otto tried to intervene and aimed his mimicry at the beasts. But the seraph class beasts were still active. Their agility combined with their long-range had made it difficult for a handicapped Otto to take them down. He had reduced their number to all but one and that last one had fired a beam of Honkai energy that grazed Otto's raised arm. Recoil stopped Otto from being able to save Roxanne once more. He clutched his arm as he fell back.