HI3: Starting from the Previous Civilization

[General POV]

Fan glanced at the crowd listening intently. They were transfixed, not so much as blinking. 

'What on earth are they picturing?' he wondered, continuing his story:

"One day, the Herrscher detection equipment went off again. They found Herrscher energy inside a young girl, but unlike the others, she didn't show any destructive impulses. Dr. Mei's immediate move was to lock her up. That alone might have been all right, except… well, remember the soldiers who'd been mentally conditioned by Aponia's 'Discipline'? They only knew one mantra—destroy Honkai at all costs.

"So put an actual Herrscher girl in the hands of an army indoctrinated with 'annihilate Honkai' from every angle… combined with the fear, exhaustion, and paranoia of that war-torn era. It was the perfect recipe for tragedy."

Fan paused, changing his tone: 

"But this goes back to earlier Herrschers: 

"The Tenth Herrschers—Herrschers of Dominion. They weren't as overwhelmingly powerful in raw ability as some others, but they specialized in eroding trust among humans. Out of nowhere, someone would freeze up, and then—boom—one more Herrscher was born inside your ranks."

He conjured up an image so vivid the listeners practically witnessed it:

A high-tech base. Two survivors walked side by side, discussing mundane things, until one of them abruptly fell silent, emitting a sinister energy wave. Sirens blared, but it was too late. He transformed into a Herrscher right before his friend's eyes—whipping up raging winds that turned the buddy into a fine red mist. Cackling like a madman, he then launched further attacks on all those around him. At the same time, reports of similar incidents sprang up worldwide, each wielding different elemental powers—fire, ice, black vapors, swirling water…

Fan noticed how everyone visibly stiffened, as if they themselves were under siege. He pressed on: 

"Yes, humanity ended up paying a steep price to defeat the Herrschers of Dominion. And after that, paranoia soared—nobody could be sure whether the person next to them was secretly a Herrscher. In short, their fear and hatred of Honkai reached its peak."

Lowering his pointer to the blackboard, he went on: 

"The Eleventh Herrscher brought even more losses. Countless 'Fusion Warriors' made through experimental surgeries died in that conflict, leaving only thirteen survivors. If you can't tell, that's basically a critical blow. Fusion Warriors were those whose bodies fused with Honkai Beast genes. Of course, that came with side effects—some grew cat ears, others rabbit ears… but at least they stood on the front lines for humanity.

"And yet certain ridiculous politicians smeared those same warriors—our bulwark against destruction—as no better than Honkai Beasts. Why? Because they wanted success and public favor. That's just how petty they were."

Fan rapped the board, pretending indignation: 

"The Eleventh Herrscher is known as the Herrscher of Restraint—an 'anti-Herrscher' Herrscher, you might say, wielding power that negated multiple forms of energy, including Honkai Energy itself. She could generate a barrier with a radius of 100 kilometers. Anything relying on Honkai or other energies inside would be weakened or die—Fusion Warriors included. Even normal humans would perish from losing their bioelectric signals within a minute.

"But interestingly, once the barrier formed, that Herrscher girl didn't budge an inch—almost as if her original self was still struggling against the Herrscher will. Despite that, humanity, already crippled and down to three cities, felt nothing but despair."

He sighed: 

"And that was the final straw. Their morale completely tanked. One night, ignoring all orders—and under the influence of 'Discipline'—the soldiers threw open the cell and murdered the young Herrscher girl in cold blood. They cheered, thinking they'd destroyed Honkai. But in truth, that was only the beginning…"

Fan's audience saw it all unfold in their minds: a pink-haired child, no older than twelve, lying in a pool of blood, gazing at the soldiers with eyes brimming with hatred. Fan allowed the image to hang in silence, then resumed:

"That act unleashed the Twelfth Herrscher—the Herrscher of Corrosion: a variant of an electronic virus, a black cloud that consumed technology. Within moments, it turned those celebrating soldiers into Deadwalkers and infiltrated the base's computer system. Humanity tried to contain it… but it was too late. Before being sealed away, that virus managed to hijack nuclear launch codes, dropping bombs on the last three remaining cities. Although some people survived, the future seemed even grimmer. They fell into despair."

He paused, then forced a bright-eyed expression: 

"But you know what? They actually came up with a device capable of converting massive amounts of Honkai Energy—the Moonlight Throne. They completed it—just needed more copies. Unfortunately, with only three industrial cities left, and each in ruins, mass production wasn't possible. Humanity's hopes of beating the final Herrscher died then and there…"

Fan trailed off for a moment. 

"One last question: how do you rally a people so broken by death and tragedy? That's where a pink-haired girl stepped forward. A Herrscher who fought for humanity's sake from the beginning, the so-called 'Herrscher of Mankind.' She sacrificed herself to gather survivors for one final stand."

In the listeners' minds, they witnessed the fateful scene: 

A final alert showed staggering concentrations of Honkai Energy on the far side of the moon. A colossal female figure, draped in regal purple garments, loomed over the surface like a living goddess, gazing down with eyes of shimmering gold—devoid of compassion or pity. A single starship hovered nearby: the Moonlight Throne. A handful of warriors faced that 'god' in an all-or-nothing battle. Some ignited in fire, others turned monstrous, still others brandished advanced weapons.

Someone glimpsed a woman with long green hair—none other than the scientist Mobius. The battle raged briefly, no more than five minutes, before two warriors fell. One was blasted into space, disintegrating to ash in the godlike Herrscher's next strike. Overloaded, the Moonlight Throne finally fired, hitting the colossal figure. She could have dodged—her golden eyes saw it coming—but chose to endure the blast. Right then, a white-haired swordsman lunged with a flaming blade, while a small cat-like figure in the back grimaced, pushing its powers to open an illusory gate. Just before collapsing into dust, the cat-person threw something inside. A silver coin clinked into the lunar soil. Nearby lay a broken harmonica and a shattered mask.

The vision lingered: a somber Mobius choosing self-termination, a white-haired warrior set on leaving for a next civilization, an artist who refused to abandon a doomed world. Finally, the purple deity stirred, drifting above Earth. She unleashed a golden radiance—forming a giant cruciform shape across the globe. Everything seemed to revert to a barren, primordial planet: no people, no vegetation, just a wasteland.

When that final scene faded, the group came to their senses—only to find Fan still talking passionately:

"…so that's everything I know about the future. After verifying those names and events, I concluded that gentle methods alone can't beat Honkai. If I told the governments, they'd laugh me off. Human arrogance means they won't take it seriously until the disaster is right in their faces… by then, it's too late. So the only hope, in my view, is a united world with strict, militarized oversight."

He spread his arms dramatically, like welcoming a new dawn: 

"And there you have it. That's the extent of my knowledge."

Fan finally noticed something odd in the eyes of his newfound companions: they gazed upon him with a fervor bordering on worship. 

'Huh…? All I did was tell a story. Why are they looking at me like that?' 

He scratched his head, a bit flustered. 

'Is this my so-called 'personal charm'? Anyway, it's convenient. I'm desperately short on reliable people. At least until I can secure that 'Mind Imprint' from the system to guarantee loyalty…'

Somewhere deep down, Fan felt vaguely reminded of a scene from a certain anime where someone rallied hopeless survivors against impossible odds, only to have them wholeheartedly follow. But he shrugged off the thought—no time for daydreams. 

[End of Chapter]

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Idiom Explanation: 

• "A single slip that led to a cascade of disaster" parallels the concept of "a small leak can sink a great ship," underscoring how minor mistakes can yield catastrophic outcomes.