Honkai Impact 3: Noah's Ark

05:《Advent》

"Bronya."

The girl glanced from her hacking interface. "Subject Noah," she said. Acknowledgement.

He found her in a small room a little ways from the aft. There were no lights apart from the girl's activity on a machine board. There were no sounds apart from that either. A silent but responsive boy and a quiet yet assertive girl. Noah felt something at the pit of his chest begin to boil as the stillness continued.

"How is the progress?" He asked. It wasn't like he couldn't catch the lightning-quick steps that she was taking with the system; it was that he couldn't understand it.

"Nearly completed. Estimated time: five minutes," she replied.

Noah leaned against the wall, closing his eyes.

...

"When you see an enemy, you must eliminate it."

The boy grunted. His left arm was now dislocated. He glared at his mentor, Dr. Mal. Another lesson on another moment of wakefulness. The boy had never seen the sun, only in books, so he didn't know if it was night or day.

He blocked another strike using his right hand. The snap of the drill sword  reverberated across the white room.

"No hesitation. Only action."

Crack!

The enemy this time was a zombified little girl. The boy ran through his installed memories--girls her age should be enjoying middle school, playing with friends and talking about boys she liked. An innocent-turned enemy.

"Kill it, Noah"

The boy gripped his sword, which was already vibrating at ultrasonic speeds. It was different kind of experience. The first was a bunny, then a dear, then a Honkai beast, then a zombified dog. He wasn't sure what the doctor was making him do this for and it was making him uncomfortable. The girl looked like she was in pain as well with her veins pulsating and skin going from pale to white then burned.

"Bring her to peace, Noah," the doctor said.

Understanding dawned upon the boy's eyes. He took a stance.

"Giving peace."

...

An impact shook the floor, waking Noah.

"What's the situation?"

"Unknown. The Bronya cannot detect with her sensors, but she worries a little for Subject Mei and the idiot."

And she can't leave either because she has to finish accessing the aft.

"I will investigate," he said.

"Un."

Noah left the room, and instantly, the wind whipped against his eyes. He peeked between his fingers and listened and felt. Blades. Heat waves. Thunder. The boy burst into motion and arrived the aft itself just in time to see a drone explode in mid-air, sending parts of what used to be an Emperor into the ocean and leaving two girls sprawled on the ship's floor.

He headed over. Kiana was unconscious while Mei was...glowing? She was also kneeling and on the verge of joining her partner on the ground.

The fact of the matter was that she had removed the limiter set in her heart temporarily in order to access her powers as the Third Herrscher, the exact one who had brought about the Third Honkai War in the middle of a city, so that she may save her friend.

His hand drifted towards one of the arcs of light that was still dancing across her skin and then--

--absorbed it.