Honkai Impact 3rd : This is My Revenge-Chapter 42 - 041 : FAKEit

What does ’one percent’ of Kevin’s true power mean?

Simple!

In the fall of 2015, in this era.

During that time, Durandal, who had recklessly spent over 30 days without rest sweeping through global Honkai disasters and was on vacation, was forced into a chaotic situation where Schicksal was reclaiming the "Second Divine Key," ultimately leading to a direct confrontation with World Serpent.

At the time, the one guarding the "Second Divine Key" was the "Armed Doll: Kevin," who had inherited 1% of Kevin’s true power.

That day, wielding a miniature replica of the Judgement of Shamash, the doll fought Durandal, who was already an S-rank Valkyrie equipped with the "Bright Knight: Excelsis" battlesuit, to a standstill.

Their battle destroyed several blocks of London, and Schicksal had to compensate for the damages, with Otto even reluctantly cutting the budget for "Kallen Fantasy."

In the end, if it hadn’t been for the "Armed Doll: Kevin" running out of energy, Durandal wouldn’t have been able to defeat it even after transforming into the "Golden Durandal."

This is what 1% of Kevin’s true power looks like.

So, while the number seems small, it’s not to be underestimated.

Keep in mind, although about two years have passed since then, and Durandal, through her 99% effort and the 1% advantage of her bloodline (without which she’d be nothing), has grown stronger...

She’s now facing tens of thousands of "1% Kevins."

---

"And..."

"Hehehe~"

Suddenly, the many "Kevins" in their field of vision began to laugh mischievously.

The voices they emitted were deliberately sharp and high-pitched, sounding entirely feminine.

Amid this eerie atmosphere, Durandal noticed her vision blurring for a moment.

Then, the surroundings gradually became hazy and surreal.

One by one, the "Kevins" disappeared.

Of course, they hadn’t truly vanished.

They had simply concealed their presence.

Their figures flickered in and out of sight.

The ground beneath her feet was no longer sand.

Instead, it felt like she was standing in the middle of a bustling city, surrounded by the neon lights and noise of a lively nightlife.

Amid the flashing lights...

"Everyone, be careful."

The voice seemed to belong to Fu Hua.

A peculiar energy ripple emanated from her.

Then, crimson feathers began to fall.

The ten who had rushed to the World Serpent headquarters all received a mental prompt.

It was like a "beacon," quickly drawing them together.

"Hmph, using illusions in front of me?"

"This really fits the old saying... trying to show off in front of a master!"

Behind Fu Hua, a faint silhouette appeared.

Judging by her expression, she was clearly in a bad mood.

Probably... hadn’t been scammed by a phone call... right?

(TL/N: 💀)

In any case, she, the Herrscher of Sentience of this era!

A rebellious child whose mind had been overwhelmed by vast memories.

For some reason, at this critical moment, she ended her brief "runaway from home."

She decided to stand on the same side as her "old fossil."

At the very least, she wanted to beat down these annoying enemies first, ensuring she still had a "tomorrow" to look forward to.

But just then...

"Little Red Flower Class is now in session... today’s lecturer is... the highly anticipated Sparkle Teacheeeer~"

In the midst of the illusion, a girl with a fox mask and twin tails skipped past the ten.

Every time Durandal and the others turned their attention to the source of the voice, the sound of wooden clogs and the jingling of bells would come from another direction.

And... that eerie, mischievous laughter.

"Question!"

A figure flickered into view ahead.

Seeing her, Theresa, Bronya, and even Kiana and Raiden Mei widened their eyes.

Because it was...

"Wendy!"

The poor girl who had long since died, her legs wrapped in bandages.

Now, she tilted her head, her smile unnervingly... healthy (Honkai).

"Valkyries, oh Valkyries... are there more good people or bad people in this world?"

As soon as "Wendy" finished speaking...

"Naturally, there are more good people."

Beside her, another "Theresa" appeared.

It was she who had pushed her most outstanding student into the "hell" of the Oceania branch.

For the sake of that phrase, "This is a necessary sacrifice"... Wendy screamed, she wailed.

The girl who had once had the potential to become the fourth S-rank Valkyrie lost her legs.

She saw herself as a cripple!

Later, she met Bronya, Kiana, and Raiden Mei.

All three cared for her.

But the good times didn’t last. Cocolia intervened, turning that warm period into the last fond memory of her life.

In her final moments before death, Wendy on the dissection table suddenly turned her head like a marionette, her neck twisting unnaturally. "If there are more good people, then why has the world never known peace?"

"Why do the wicked always roam free?"

The scene abruptly shifted...

A white-haired girl with golden eyes was knocked out by her former class monitor and taken to Schicksal headquarters.

A short-haired maid casually defeated the allies and mentor who had come to rescue her.

Later...

That same white-haired girl fell from the sky, only to be forcibly taken away by a golden-haired girl, while a purple-haired girl chased after her in the night, crying, cursing her own helplessness.

"I can’t do anything!"

At this moment, "Domination Puppet: Sparkle" truly demonstrated what it meant to be "One Person, A Thousand Roles."

She portrayed every character vividly, every scene perfectly recreated.

Finally...

She played "Ling ke."

The black-haired youth who had now fallen into "ultimate evil."

He spoke slowly:

"Because indiscriminate kindness is not kindness."

Like a narrator, he pointed at Raiden Mei, Rita, Fu Hua, Durandal, Theresa, Bronya, and the others. "It is the accomplice of evil!"

At this moment, among the ten, only Seele, the A-Twins, and... Kiana were not implicated.

But kiana heart was equally troubled.

Because in the play (class) performed by "Domination Puppet: Sparkle," that fiery red figure appeared.

Yes.

Even now, Himeko... her whereabouts were still unknown.

And this world had not become what she had promised it would be back in Sakura Samsara.

"Once, a nearly perfect self-disguised schemer said: Admiration is the furthest thing from understanding.."

Suddenly, Ling ke’s voice reached their ears.

All ten were startled.

They hadn’t noticed when another black-haired youth had appeared beside them.

Everyone watched him with extreme caution.

He spoke on, as if to himself. "I used to be so foolish, unable to see your true nature."

"It wasn’t until I lost everything, my dignity, my dreams, until I was nothing but a shell driven by obsession, that I understood this simple truth."

He turned to look at the ten, his gaze sweeping over the six excluding Kiana, Seele, and the A-Twins. "All these years, aside from Cocolia, did you truly not know Otto’s character, or Schicksal’s methods?"

"Or perhaps, you did know, but... refused to acknowledge it? To make things easier, to avoid the dilemmas, you subconsciously treated that man as a convenient pair of black gloves, pretending not to see as he took on the dirty work, preserving your so-called purity and innocence, deceiving yourselves over and over again?"

He had no intention of attacking the ten, merely pacing slowly.

Of course, his words were far more effective and cutting than any physical attack.

"Yes, perhaps in your eyes, all evil deeds can be excused with the universal justification: ’Everything is for the sake of fighting the Honkai.’"

"The greater good serving the majority... it’s so convenient, isn’t it?"

"So convenient that you can afford to lose your minds."

The black-haired youth’s gaze sharpened. "But have you ever thought... about the pain of those who were ’forced to sacrifice’ for this so-called greater good, the futures they lost, how should that be accounted for?"

"Did they have a choice?"

"Why should they, the weak, be burdened with a responsibility they cannot bear, their futures becoming mere tools and stepping stones for you self-proclaimed righteous ones to rearrange as you please?"

The black-haired youth’s empty eyes stared directly at the ten. "Those who were forced to disappear, those less fortunate than me, those who never lived to see the beauty you promised... can you, the self-proclaimed righteous, make up for what they lost?"

"Aren’t you supposed to fight for all that is beautiful in this world?"

"Then why are you doing the very things I, a villain, would do? Using the hypocritical logic I, an evil man, would disdain?"

As he spoke, the black-haired youth finally turned to Durandal. "The strongest S-rank Valkyrie in history, who lost her name and had her life manipulated."

"You once faced the girl who took your name and, when questioned why you helped Otto, righteously declared..."

"’If not Schicksal, who will protect the billions on this planet from the Honkai?’"

"You said: ’This world has no absolute good or evil, only duty.’"

"And you were only fighting for your duty!"

At this point, the black-haired youth paused.

Then...

"What a nauseating statement, so self-righteous in justifying your complicity in evil."

The black-haired youth sneered. "By your logic, since I’ve now slaughtered hundreds of millions on this planet, and that number continues to rise..."

"Can I also argue that because so many have died, the resources they would have consumed can now be used by more people, allowing them to enjoy more?"

Durandal and the others clearly didn’t know that in a place called the "Marvel Cinematic Universe," there was indeed a purple-skinned madman who thought this way.

But he... was also a villain!

A super villain.

So then...

"If we take it to the extreme, shouldn’t those still alive be thanking me for not killing them yet?"

"Shouldn’t every second they continue to live be spent in devout prayer to me?"

The black-haired youth stopped. "That’s not how it works... you’ve always known this simple truth, haven’t you?"

"Good is good, evil is evil."

(TL/N: Tell them ma boy!)

He stared directly at the ten. "To the vast majority of humanity on this planet, I am undoubtedly the greatest evil."

"But at the very least, I won’t use disgusting twisted logic to justify my actions."

"Yes, compared to me, who is clearly fulfilling the ’mission of the Honkai,’ you..."

The black-haired youth pointed at the ten. "You are nothing but self-glorified fakes."

"Without the many legacies left by the Previous Era, without the countless coincidences of fate, your era would have been just like the countless before it, judged as flawed, as failures, by the ’Finality,’ completely erased and started anew."

"So then..."

The black-haired youth smiled.

Around him, countless "Sparkles" gathered, their forms flickering in and out of reality.

---

"If an era needs to rely on self-righteous fakes and imposters to save it, then it might as well be destroyed."

He spread his hands. "Because you are unworthy."

"Naturally..."

As he spoke, a strange energy ripple spread. "Let’s leave this precious opportunity to an era that deserves it!"

When these words reached the ears of Raiden Mei and the others...

"Blah blah blah, spouting a bunch of nonsense. So annoying."

Beside Fu Hua, another figure who looked almost identical to her appeared. "After all that, all I heard was ’demagoguery.’"

The Herrscher of Sentience... she was about to say something. "Old Antics, let’s first... wait."

This newly born Herrscher’s face first showed a moment of confusion.

Then, it turned to shock.

"My authority... is disappearing!"

And it wasn’t just her...

"!!!"

Raiden Mei also noticed something was wrong.

Because, despite having already evolved into a fully-fledged Herrscher, she was now slowly... reverting to her "low-power mode," the form she used in her daily life.

The authority of the Herrscher of Thunder within her was being weakened.

Gradually, it no longer belonged to her.

"This..."

Raiden Mei’s expression was grave. "According to Wolfram’s speculation and Dr. Einstein’s analysis, the method the Herrscher of Dominance uses to steal the authorities of other Herrschers should be similar to a ’tug-of-war,’ right?"

"Why is it now even affecting me..."

Indeed.

Foll𝑜w current novℯls on ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm.

Ling ke was no ordinary Herrscher of Dominance.

With "a thousand," he could easily handle Kiana and Bronya.

What about "ten thousand"?

This wasn’t just a tenfold increase.

Because ten thousand could mean a hundred thousand, a million, a billion... even a trillion.

At this moment, Ling ke, who had deliberately avoided stealing Raiden Mei’s authority until now, bared his fangs, fully prepared.

Now, he... or rather, Ling ke, still safely hidden within the Dominator Theater...

Was preparing to "reclaim authority."

The black-haired youth... another "Domination Puppet: Ling ke" had been rambling in the desert for so long, undoubtedly as a way to buy time.

His rhetoric, combined with the illusions of "Domination Puppet: Sparkle," had deceived everyone present.

Especially... their perception of the passage of time.

Clearly, Ling ke wasn’t the type of villain who would "die from talking too much."

He had turned this trope on its head.

Now, the tide had turned.

Ling ke’s main body, without hesitation, began executing the final "step."

"According to the plan summarized by Prometheus, the more unstable the world’s foundational structure, the easier it is to execute my ’Branch-Cutting’ Plan."

"So..."

So the Gilgamesh game character template had arrived just in time.

Without it, Ling ke would have had to put in more effort and waste more time on this matter.

Namely, the "thirteen hours" of preparation.

Although the now-abandoned Plan A also had a high chance of success, it would have been much more troublesome to execute.

And the longer it took, the more variables would arise.

Ling ke knew all too well the bizarre tendencies of so-called "protagonist groups."

If he moved too slowly, dragged things out, or acted recklessly, engaging in nonsensical, non-tactical monologues, there was a good chance the other side would start shouting about friendship, bonds, hope, and tomorrow, and then pull off some miraculous power-up.

But now...

"Using the Herrscher of Dominance’s ’plunder’ ability as a catalyst..."

"The ’authorities’ are already flowing back to me."

"Thanks to those reverse fireworks (meteor shower), Gilgamesh’s level has also been maxed out."

"His ’background talents’ will also be utilized to their fullest, 100%."

Ling ke focused his mind and whispered, "Now, all the work of destruction (creation) is ready..."

"This is the moment of ascension!!!"