Shin Honkai Impact: The Blazing Dawn

第26章 - We're going deep

Millenniums of struggle. Millenniums of bloodshed. Millenniums of survival.

Millennials have passed since the battle of humanity against the Honkai had started. It continues even to this day. Never once stopping.

So long has human civilization existed, so, too, has Honkai. It was unrelenting, never once halting in its endeavors of wiping the existence of humanity.

In the midst of this darkness, warriors bearing the stigmata were seen as the only hope against the malevolence of the Honkai. They were the light of hope in the eyes of the people; their salvation.

The legend of the Golden Emperor dates back to the ancient time of a place called the God's Land.

According to that ancient epic, Princess Ji Xuanyuan, who was known by the populace of God's Land as the Golden Emperor, was such a warrior who too, bore the mark of the stigma on her body.

The legend stated that she wielded a golden sword, a weapon that she used in her battle against the Honkai. According to the records of the ancient legend, it is being said that the sword itself was a divine relic bestowed upon humanity by the gods themselves to fight the Honkai.

However, in her final battle, Princess Xuanyuan gave up her life in order to seal the Demon God, Chiyou into the deep ends of a place known as the Nine Realms. That is where the legend ended.

Ever since then, the significance of the sword and the stigmata was reduced to being a figment of imagination that was believed to have only existed in a story of fiction.

"But who knew that the legend was simply not a story...."

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Blue. That's what all I could see in front of my eyes. No matter how far I tried to see, all I could see was blue. A colour pleasant to the eye.

The blue waters were both unexpectedly soothing yet expectedly sent a slight shiver of trepidation down my spine. Such a scenery could only be described to be a strange mix of beauty and dread. The latter only because of the deep abyss underneath my feet.

The only thing that acted as a barrier between me and the blue waters was the aquatic underwater oxygen regulation gear that had been affixed to my battlesuit. A mask with a glass visor around my head, supplying me oxygen in this environment that would've otherwise drowned me not long ago. And a propulsion system attached to my back.

"So this is what feels like to be underwater..." I can't help but murmur to myself in awe.

This is my first time being in the depths of the sea. Such scenery took my breath away, leaving me immobile for a second. If it wasn't for the sudden gentle tug, then I would've stayed motionless for who knows how long.

"Shirou-kun?" I hear someone ask that.

A tab pops up on the screen of my glass visor from the inside, grabbing my attention. The blue tab held the text letters "communicating - Raiden Mei".

"Is something bothering you?" Her gentle voice posed a question to me regarding my conflicted self.

"No... It's just that I'm a bit thalassophobic... I guess." I admit.

I subconsciously tighten my grip around Mei's hand that held mine. Having lived most of my life on the land, a change of environment like the aquatic one around us is a bit sudden for me to adapt to.