Chaos Gacha Honkai Chapter 5 (Tell me if you actually want me to post it here, seeing that I cross post it for free on QQ as well)

Author Note: Read the OMAKE above if you missed it. It was written by a good friend with a minor assistance from me, it's good.

***

The trick with Honkai beasts is that their classification still wasn't solid or decided upon.

New variants popped up semi-frequently, and they were mostly assessed by threat levels in our training.

Low-level, medium-level, and high-level, respectively.

Low levels are the enemy that can be handled by infantry, even if the anti-tank weaponry has to be used; medium level is the one that can be substantially damaged only using tank weaponry, and high level is everything theoretically over that.

The issue was that there wasn't much knowledge about Honkai beasts floating around right now. No organization on Earth, M.O.T.H. included, had the means to contain and study any beast above low-level, and even medium-level beasts didn't pop up often, not since Berlin.

As I cut my way through the city, I only had to deal with the chaff.

Zombies and Seraphs, yes, but also some quadrupedal type of Honkai beasts I've never heard of, that reminded me of a feline, and for once, couldn't fly. A few other chariots to boot, but they too weren't overall difficult to dispatch, not with a blade that cut through them like they are butter.

I knew those were still all low-level mooks simply because I wasn't notified by the HQ about the elevated Honkai level. They didn't exactly have eyes on the ground aside from me; they could only monitor the emissions, such as Honkai radiation, with any degree of precision. However, the equipment wasn't good enough to spot low levels yet.

I blocked the attempt to tackle me with a shield before bisecting the beast that clanged to my shield in half, just in time to step away from a laser that passed where I just stood.

I turned towards a floating medusa-like beast, and, ignoring the swinging zombies, ran up towards it and cut it in half next.

"Thank god those things are too stupid to fly outside of my range," I muttered, turning towards the remaining zombies.

Tearing them all apart without the support of beasts took me barely ten seconds.

As I stood there, my armour covered in blood, I was breathing heavily.

I suddenly realized I've felt exhausted. Not how I was in training.

It took me a couple of seconds to understand why.

My body was feeling the strain, sure, but it was also the constant tension, the focus needed for each fight that chipped away at me.

I've been deployed for what, twenty minutes already? Most of the time, I was fighting and always on alert.

It was especially intense when I left the survivors and did my damn best to slaughter all the Honkai Beasts on my way to the target and in their vicinity, just battle after battle.

As I got my breathing back under control, I ran across the ground and propelled myself up and onto another roof.

"Contact with Target Beta in about 64 meters," My operator warned.

"Acknowledged," I responded tiredly as I scanned the surroundings and... there!

I think this was a parking lot next to a mall before the outbreak. I could certainly see many carcasses of cars, some still burning, but...

"I have my eyes on target," I said slowly, studying the monsters hovering over the ground. "I see honkai-beasts floating there, ten or so. They are pretty big, have huge shields and lances... I think," It was hard to make out in the dark, being as tired as I was, and besides, the bastards had the same damn white, black, and purple lines look that made it a headache trying to understand where the limbs ended and the torsos started.

"On our end, we only observe a single signature that is roughly around what we can quantify at the very bottom of a high level," Mobius spoke up again, "That said, don't be reckless."

"Wasn't planning to," I said, observing my surroundings and seeing a single communication tower some distance away that... should have a direct line of sight to the parking lot. "Operator, ETA for Russian presents?"

"Hold," the Operator asked, but...

"Around 15 seconds, Lab Rat." Mobius replied, "Rockets are supersonic, even if their exact altitude and distance aren't constantly the same while they circle, it should be from ten to twenty seconds." I knew she had to crunch the approximate numbers instead of having the precise distances to work with, judging by how haughty (for her, it meant she was irked) she sounded. Still, that was precisely what I needed.

"Good enough." I made my way to the communication tower, running and jumping across the roofs, before finally accelerating across one last roof and jumping on top of the tower, breaking my momentum with a cape I conjured a second before impact, so that thing wouldn't break or wobble too much.

I forced my armor to release the laser-guidance mechanism on my shoulder. And taking out the UV binoculars (purely mechanical) from the pouch on the waist of my armour.

"Tell them to launch the non-nuke," I said, moving my shoulder and twisting in place so the laser, invisible to the naked eye, would be shining riiiiight in the middle of the chucklefucks' little gathering.

"Payload sent," My operator answered a second later, some honest relief in his voice. "Brace for impact."

The distance from me to the target, I'd estimate, was around 150m. Shockwave will probably still be unpleasant, but the armour should be able to protect me from the worst of it.

If it didn't, I am sure Mobius would've tried to cock block me by now.

Locking my armour in place by just wielding all the tiny connecting parts, aside from the one in my hand, I put the binoculars back in the pouch and observed, after projecting a small veil of shadow just in front of my helmet. I could still see, just less light got through.

I saw a line of fire tracing through the sky, and the honkai beasts turning towards it and trying to react.

Surprisingly smart of them.

Then the explosion.

Movies don't make explosions like that justice. There is a sense of surrealism when you see the ground just evaporate and lift into the sky as a column of dirt and debris.

I even had the time to raise Cap's shield before the shockwave hit me.

Even at that distance, I felt some debris ricochet from the shield harmlessly; it sounded almost like rain hitting a metallic container. The booming sound of an explosion arrived at the same time, making me wince, and the tower under me wobbled and groaned.

"Fuck," I muttered, feeling my ears ring, "This is loud!"

"Knightmare," My operator spoke up again, "The Honkai beasts from the surroundings will likely be attracted to your position. Retreat."

I nodded at that despite myself, releasing my bootleg 'armour lock' as I looked on the scene of the explosion...

Wait.

"Some of the targets survived," I said, my voice steady. "Just one or two. HQ, do I move in to engage?"

It was a valid question. From what I understand, those are mid-level Honkai beasts, on the higher end of that spectrum, too, considering that some survived a point-blank cruise missile detonation.

I think the operator wasn't quite qualified to make the call, seeing an entire second of silence.

"Knightmare, we don't know the situation on the ground as well as you do. Ideally, mid-level threats like this should be eliminated by you before we can send in the regular forces, if you think you can manage and safely retreat, engage." The operator finally instructed.

I could see his point. I spent a second to glance around, and I could see some Seraphs flying here as well as some zombies moving in.

Most of the beasts spilled out and into the outskirts surrounding the city; those that remained were positioned as, basically, guards around the heart of the outbreak.

It's the usual business when it comes to Honkai. Honkai energy outbreak occurs, and it's enough for some low-level beasts to appear, presumably by crawling from whatever hellish dimension they lived in, or constructed on the spot (even Mobius wasn't sure which yet). Those beasts appear, try to kill everything in the surroundings, and their mere existence accumulates Honkai Radiation. Then the situation reaches a critical threshold, and middle-class beasts start appearing.

By that point, the outbreak spots were usually nuked, so our eggheads didn't know what went next.

But even Mobius thought that the logic normally didn't change. Leave a single middle-level beast, and in a few days or weeks, there will be two. That continues until there are so many of them, something higher-level will manifest.

Basically, it was the 'longer the Icon of Sin is on earth, the stronger He will become' kind of situation.

I wish we had an actual Doomguy on our side.

Glancing around to see a few Seraphs noticing me and zoning on my location, I sighed.

"Alright, HQ, I am moving in to clear out the survivors. This will be a tough one."

If the judgment call was for me to make, I'll go in. I was tired, emotionally drained, and felt just about done; the only thing keeping me together was the understanding that there is no one else besides me who could handle this.

That was a familiar sentiment for me, so as I usually did in both of my lives, I just gritted my teeth and focused on the task at hand.

I reached out to my mana to sense how much remained, and was surprised to realize that once again I had a connection. A new string. But it felt weak. I glanced over it... an item, some kind of sunglasses?

Shaking my head, I focused on the task at hand; the string could wait, this one didn't seem immediately useful.

I jumped down from the bent communication tower and from the roof with a single motion, my hand with a sword gently brushing against the wall on my way down, sparks flying.

Halfway down, I shifted in the air, hitting my legs against the wall, and catapulting myself forwards, towards the road and a shopping mall.

Landing with a roll, I started to run, the few zombies on my way easily shield-bashed aside, or cut in half.

I could see the knight-like beasts in front, slowly rising from the ground. They are also much larger now that I see them up close, varying in height. Some were just two times taller, while one was the size of a two-story building.

I blame my non-perfect eyesight for not noticing sooner.

Also, running towards them at full speed didn't seem like a good idea suddenly. Alternatively, I knew that honkai beasts from the whole surroundings would converge here, and I really didn't want to back out either.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" The yell was equally terror, bestial rage, and an attempt to hype myself up as I was nearly upon them.

There were four targets, all in various states of 'damaged'.

The first one on my path was the smallest. He raised his shield up and brought his lance-bearing arm back.

My danger sense flared, and I knew exactly what he would do.

The moment I ran into his range, he thrust his lance; it was fast, the movement not inferior to my own in speed at all.

Unfortunately for him, my weapon was better.

Captain's shield met the lance with a quiet 'clang', but instead of a block, knowing where and how the attack would come from, I deflected it, sliding across the lance and towards the shield.

I thrust with my blade, intending to pierce through the obstacle.

The essence of a monomolecular blade is very simple: it has a cutting edge with a thickness of a single molecule, hence the name. Not very hard to grasp. At those levels, the impact of such a weapon against any material is not a tearing or even slashing effect - force of the cut is distributed across such a small surface that it's directly breaking molecular bonds at the point of contact. General scientific consensus of my time is kinda-sorta'ish that creation of a blade with cutting edge like this is impossible --- no material is capable of retaining a cutting edge that's just one molecule thick, since it would require material science in the realm of overcoming the stress of molecular structure of the blade during impact. Long story short: it would simply stop being monomolecular after impact, or even before, if you're swinging it fast enough, with materials known to modern human manufacturing --- at least, the one that I knew. From a practical standpoint, my world's science wasn't even close to creating a thing like that, forget about maintaining its structural integrity as a whole, and molecular integrity of the cutting edge after use. Materials that are strong at macro-levels aren't good enough for that --- atoms at the very edge are only weakly bonded to the rest of the blade due to its thinness, and none that are known to man are even capable of coming close to single-molecule thickness. Materials that can? Extremely brittle, like obsidian, lose their sharpness from stress super fast, and even so, aren't quite monomolecular even at their best.

To summarise: you just cannot realistically overcome the combined challenges of edge reactivity, atomic dislocation, and the inherent tradeoff between sharpness and fracture resistance of the blade. With conventional material science, that is.

But that's exactly the catch: I can circumvent the material science by being a quirky awesome wholesome chungus Lab Rat and giving the mad scientists at M.O.T.H. the sheer bullshit that is proto-adamantium... which led them -and me- to believe that the weapon would be perfect --- impossible to stop with materials that aren't superior to its own, not with my level of strength, anyway.

This was why, when my thrust penetrated the durable-looking shield, I wasn't surprised. Not initially, even as the feedback shock traveled through my arm.

I was, however, surprised that I felt any resistance at all.

The shield, from what I could tell, was pierced right through, and the tip of the blade must have impaled the beast partially as well.

But as I tried to pull the blade out... I couldn't. I yanked it down, trying to cut downwards with it, but couldn't do it either.

"Fuck."

I jumped back, just in time to avoid the lance of a giant version of the beast I was trying to kill, and, absent-mindedly blocking a laser with a shield, from some minor beast some distance away.

"Mobius, the sword got stuck in the honkai beast's shield, the hell do I do?!" I asked, gripping Cap's shield in both arms, and preparing myself for an onslaught of attacks.

I didn't have to wait long.

"It's friction and Van der Waals Forces, Lab Rat," Mobius' voice immediately snapped into the communicator, as I weaved between the attacks I knew were coming, deflecting what I couldn't. "In short, the material deformed and was penetrated by your weapon, but is now gripping onto it on an atomic level. You will need to exert considerable force to retrieve it; you likely won't be able to mid-combat."

As if to live by her words, the beast I initially attacked stepped back, allowing his 'bigger cousins' to shield it. The fucker STILL HAD MY BLADE IN HIS SHIELD!

How are they this smart?!

"Alright," I whispered to myself, jumping back and gaining some distance for just a brief moment.

So, I can't retreat without the blade; it amplified my combat ability too much. I also won't be able to pull it out mid-fight.

Cap style it is.

Grabbing the shield tighter in one arm, and with one hand free, I prepared myself. At this point, the fear retreated, leaving only a goal and a pathway to reaching it.

The biggest knight-like beast once again was upon me; the fucker was like a building, and swung down. I jumped over the lance. He was almost as quick as me, but I literally knew what he was about to do before he could, thanks to the spider-senses.

He was striking with his shield raised, but that didn't matter. I jumped up and over him, once again calling to my mana, and throwing a chain of shadow-metal over his neck as I flew over him, like a loop, gripping it with my free hand and pulling.

The colossal knight beast staggered just a little, and I was pulled into its back, which I collided with while hitting it with a sharp-ish edge of my shield.

It bit into its flesh. So the fuckers are softer aside from the shield?!

Great news!

A great blade made out of writhing shadow appeared in my hand as my mana plummeted. I knew that I won't be able to keep control of the construct for more than a few seconds, but that's just the thing.

I didn't need to.

The Dragonslayer-sized sword was impaled right into the back of the neck of the honkai beast.

In the next second, I had to jump away blindly, only to see another 'knight' hit the towering beast in the back where I just stood.

I had to raise my shield in the air, blocking two laser strikes from a distance without seeing them, and feeling one impact my back anyway when I couldn't turn fast enough.

It threw me aside, knocking me out of breath, but it didn't feel that.

I had my moment to stand up and deflect the lance strike from the next beast, this time skipping over the ground and around him, due to the sheer speed of my movement, yet, instead of being able to attack, I was greeted with another 'knight', the one that still had my sword in his shield, rushing towards me and trying to clip me with his spear.

Grinning, I deliberately fell on my back so that his lance passed over me, sliding across the uneven concrete, and gripped the blade again, as two of my legs struck the shield, which, instead of kicking I bent.

"Call me Artuhr!" I shouted out of breath, and with my full back behind the action, and my knees into it, I pulled. "Because I am... AAAARGH fucking king of the pull-out game!"

The blade finally came out, and I shot into the air with it. The strength I pulled into this action was enough for me to jump twenty or more meters up in the air, so that was the distance I crossed with my sword in hand as I went flying.

The collision, expectedly, drove the air out of my lungs and caused mild disorientation. I am sure I would've been lasered before I could get my bearings if not for the danger sense that clued me in on where to move my shield as I was getting up.

"Round two," I muttered to myself, and exploded into action, seeing the 'knights' standing on the defensive perimeter this time.

Zig-zagging around the lasers, I approached the tallest one, waited for him to swing, this time parrying it with a shield to angle it upwards, and running around it.

With my speed, each step propelled me a few meters, so it felt more like skipping a stone. Except I am the stone.

As I passed him, I used both of my legs to break the momentum and swung at the knight's back, bisecting it cleanly in half.

Then I glanced at the remaining two who were trying to attack me from both sides.

One attack is blocked by the shield, the other by the blade. Normally, I am sure, my strength wouldn't have been enough to stop the strikes that left visible craters on the ground, but vibranium in my weapons simply absorbed 70% of every impact into the weapon.

"AAAAAgh!" I swung upwards, breaking the clinch, and dashed under the smallest knight, the one who had originally disarmed me. He put his shield down trying to squash me, but not quickly enough.

With great satisfaction, I bisected him from his junk upwards, hoping that he had a dick, and suffered immensely the pain all men would've felt in that situation.

That left only one enemy, and the approaching zombies and seraphs.

I slowly exhaled, grinning to myself.

Alright, this will be fucking therapeutic.

***

The second closest hotspot, surprisingly, consisted of the same honkai beasts as the first. This time, I sent two cruise missiles with a three-second difference, which allowed me to clean them up without engaging personally.

The last time they regenerated some of the more major damage by the time I got there, twiddling my thumbs as I did, but with two rockets hitting a few seconds apart, there were no survivors.

No strings to pull either, but ah, well.

I still had to fight quite a lot through the streets, and I could feel that there were more and more honkai beasts. HQ confirmed it too; they seemed to be getting back into the zone of the initial outbreak instead of spreading to the outskirts. It seems we were striking something critical... and that something was controlling them broadly, giving some semblance of strategy to their actions.

The third and last hotspot wasn't too far, but I finally got enough of a breather to report to HQ an important bit of intel.

"...basically, those knight-like beasts were almost impenetrable from the front, even the mono-molecular sword felt resistance. Dunno how that is possible. But if you strike their actual body, you can cut them up without much trouble, not that much more durable than a Chariot."

"Acknowledged, we will send primarily warnings in case those things are encountered elsewhere." The operator promised, "Doctor Mobius asked me to tell you that you will be debriefed after the mission for more details."

"Obviously," I agreed, bisecting a seraph-class that was sniping me with lasers for the last few minutes while I was cutting towards his position.

The lasers from honkai beasts weren't as dangerous. Sure, the attack looked like it was light-speed, but they couldn't turn fast enough to actually track a moving target with it. With my spider-senses, evading or blocking was easy. Even my armour could clearly take a few hits, deforming just a bit, though it did take mana to restore it, so I tried not to let their attacks reach me.

"Knightmare, the target is about three hundred meters away. According to the city maps, there is a city park in the area."

Meaning no high ground, but an opportunity to scout ahead. Hopefully.

"Roger that."

I jumped onto another building and started to see the start of the small park close by. I ran across, cleaving a few persistent beasts, I finally had a good look.

"Okay, HQ, this looks pretty bad."

When dealing with this outbreak, I never encountered the 'day-z' scenario. Where there are so many bodies of zombies or beasts that you can't realistically get down on the street level.

So far, my encounters were dozens, at worst, like fifty zombies. In the first zone where the rocket fell, hundreds of zombies converged, but I escaped from the majority of them.

Here, however? Hundreds of zombies. Dozens of chariot-like beasts, and at least a few 'knights'. Also, the feline-like monsters.

"Major enemy activity, hundreds. Mostly low-levels, and if we count the knight as mid-levels, a few of those too." I reported dutifully.

"Hold," The operator asked.

In about a dozen seconds.

"Knightmare, I've been briefed," Alexanderson's concerned voice echoed from my earpiece, "Nuclear launch authorized."

"Got it," I said, squinting and trying to see beyond the small hills and a treeline. "I think I see something else in there. Something big. Alright, if we are nuking it anyway, I don't think it matters."

I glanced around, searching for a spot far away from the blast, from which I could laser-guide the nuke.

The construction site a few streets away seemed good. It had a very tall crane.

"I'll tell you when to launch. Need to get further away," I reported, before jumping down and breaking into a sprint.

Surprisingly, I didn't encounter many beasts or zombies on my way there, and climbing the crane wasn't that hard. I could propel myself up a dozen meters at a time, so the service ladder served me like branches for the macaques.

Eventually, I was high up.

The view would've been breathtaking if I didn't feel so numb.

"Mobius, am I far enough? I am on a construction crane." I asked, not even sure if she was listening.

"What is the crane's model? Do you see any serial numbers?"

I glanced around, noticing the control panel of the crane with a... body inside.

Running up to the cabin with a control panel, I checked inside, taking care not to look at the body, as I glanced around. I found a manual on the small desk beneath the control panel, next to a cup of StarDusk coffee.  

Thank you, Asians, for religiously following regulations.

"Liebherr 630 EC-H 50," I read out.

Mobius didn't answer immediately. It took her a total of five seconds.

"By my calculation, it should hold at that distance. Just don't look directly towards the explosion, Lab Rat. The eye restoration procedure would impact our testing schedule."

I chuckled to myself.

"Got it," I exited the control room and climbed on top of it.

Once again, the laser pointer appeared on my shoulder, as I lined it towards the figure I think I saw somewhere in the depths of the park.

"Alright, launch."

A second later.

"Launch confirmed."

I knew I would have to wait for a few long seconds.

I was tired emotionally and physically, had a slight headache, felt like my lungs were still on fire, and in general, was about done with all of that.

I had no strength to joke or play around.

Yet, at this instance, I couldn't help but think.

Mom, today I nuked the Japs the third time.

I couldn't even feel much amusement from the joke. Probably because I just saw countless civilians being killed.

A visor of shadows appeared over my helmet as I prepared.

Then, in the land of the rising sun, a new sun arose at night.

I can't quite describe the sheer glee of seeing your enemies disappear in the nuclear fire.

"Direct hit confirmed," I said, raising my shield and trying to hide as much behind it as I could.

Then the shockwave hit.

The entire crane started to shake and wobble, but my balance was good enough. The shockwave that broke against my shield was basically nothing. The Japanese were also building their shit expecting earthquakes; it definitely played a part today.

Standing up, feeling the dust around me, I glanced towards the impact site.

That small park? No more. A pile of dust, smoke, and debris, rising as a column towards the sky, with the debris slowly falling all around? That's more like it.

However...

Something shifted there. Inside the pillar of dust.

Immediately, I crouched lower, narrowing my eyes and trying to see. The dust didn't get inside my helmet -thank you, magic-, which was one of the main reasons why I didn't need any other equipment, so my vision wasn't impacted much.

Still, I wasn't sure if I saw it right.

Danger.

I jumped aside, and a laser hit where I just stood. I glanced towards the source, seeing a 'medusa-class' floating there.

Without saying anything, I changed the grip of my shield and threw it at her.

The shield impacted and bounced back perfectly, letting me catch it on return. The hard part, as I figured out during training, was actually throwing it correctly; it bounces off just right every single time, no matter the material, I think it's some property of the alloy that some of our material engineers were testi...

"SKREEEEOOONK!!!"

I froze. This sounded like a Godzilla. Why the fuck did it sound like a Godzilla.

Slowly, almost woundingly, I turned around as I heard my earpiece activate again.

"Knightmare, warning, high-level Honkai signature spike detected! Report!"

I didn't answer, just staring blindly.

"There is a floating, five-story apartment-sized honkai beast," I said numbly. "Please tell Russians to send all the remaining rockets."

I said, popping out the targeting system on my shoulder again.

"Acknowledged!" The operator said, but I barely heard him.

What I was focused on instead was the ruined and cracked exterior of the beast, as well as the fact that it seemed to be looking... right at me?

Also, why are the energy particles physically appearing around him and... oh shit!

The danger senses triggered just in time for me to raise Cap's shield, before an unrelenting wave of force crashed into me.

I dropped my sword a second later, driven to my knees as my legs dug into the metal beams beneath me, clutching desperately to the shield, and feeling that sensation of placing an umbrella before a strong wind multiplied by a factor of a hundred.

It was like a tidal wave was pushing against me.

The assault ended in just a few seconds, but when it was done, I could see the metal of the crane around me being heated up, and the entire swath of the obstacles between us being melted through.

Wait, the missiles.

Desperately, I tried to calibrate the laser on the enemy's position, but...

Three seconds later, I saw a number of light streaks across the sky, but all of them landed around us. None anywhere close to the beast.

"None of the missiles hit!" I screamed, interrupting the operator who was mumbling to me something about making a report! "The hell happened Mobius?!"

The answer followed immediately.

"Spike in Honkai energy to the point when the complicated electronics inside the missiles' targeting systems were frying faster than they could hit the enemy. The same thing happened in Germany; it was the reason why they had to use ballistic missiles with payloads in multiple megatons instead of tactical nuclear missiles."

I breathed out, picking up my sword, before, after a second of hesitation, I jumped down the crane, unfolding my cape and starting to fly away from the monster.

"So what, what do I do?!"

Her answer was immediate.

"From your description, this is a high-level honkai beast; some were reportedly spotted in Germany. There are two options: either you extract from the city so we utilize ballistic missiles, or you attempt to defeat it in a conventional manner."

While she was speaking, I glanced back, seeing the geometric Godzilla very much floating after me across the ruined streets.

Mobius' words were clear. If I manage to retreat - which is a big if, considering it seems to follow me -, my deployment was basically for nothing. That alone wouldn't have felt so shitty. At this point, anything that will get me out of this alive would work, pride be damned.

But retreating doesn't seem viable. I can also see that the thing was injured; it was oozing energy from its body like wisps of smoke.

I considered my options for a second, even as I saw that thing starting to charge what I assume was another 'fuck you and everything in your general direction' laser.

"I'll engage. Wish me luck," I wanted to say it cheerfully, but all that came out was a whisper.

I was terrified beyond anything else so far. But at the same time, I just didn't see another way.

Not listening to a response, if any, I dropped down on the ground, as my danger sense flashed, seeing a pink and purple laser streak through the air where I had just been.

Landing, the concrete erupted around me, as I raised my sword and shield, hitting one against another and producing a powerful 'clang'.

The beast was floating towards me on the long, abandoned street, its 'wings' clipping the buildings and collapsing floors as it passed.

The beast's wings erupted with purple-pink energy, condensing into blade-like projections that extended twenty feet from each wingtip.

My danger sense exploded.

The creature moved - not flew, not charged - it displaced itself through space so fast the air cracked. I threw myself backwards as an energy blade carved through where I'd been, the concrete liquefying in a molten trench.

The shockwave from its passage alone sent me tumbling. I caught myself with one hand, pivoting into a sprint as another blade cleaved through a parked bus behind me, the metal edges glowing white-hot.

No time to think. Only move.

I vaulted over a destroyed car, using it as a springboard to reach a fire escape. The metal groaned under my enhanced strength as I launched myself up three stories in one jump. Behind me, the building's base exploded as the beast crashed through it like tissue paper.

The entire structure tilted. I ran along the increasingly horizontal wall, glass windows shattering under my feet. At the edge, I leaped to the next building, unfurling my cape to glide the distance.

Mid-flight, danger sense screamed. I twisted, bringing the shield up just as an energy blade swept past. Even deflected, the force spun me like a top. I crashed through an office window, rolled across desks and cubicles, and kept running.

The beast burst through the wall behind me, too large for the space, its body demolishing load-bearing walls as it pursued. The ceiling collapsed. I slid under falling concrete, shield raised to deflect debris, and dove through another window.

Five-story drop. I fired a shadow chain at a streetlight, swinging in an arc that took me under an overpass. The beast's energy beam vaporized the entire bridge structure, raining molten concrete.

I hit the ground running, zigzagging between abandoned cars. The beast descended, its wings clipping buildings and shearing through their facades. Glass and concrete rained down like hail.

A gas station ahead. Perfect.

I grabbed an abandoned motorcycle with one hand, my enhanced strength letting me hurl it at the gas pumps. The explosion bloomed just as the beast passed through it. The flames did nothing to its form, but the smoke and debris obscured whatever it had for vision.

I used that second to get above it, jumping from a bus to a truck to a second-story window to a roof. The beast spun, energy blades whirling like a blender, but I was already dropping onto its back.

My sword bit deep into a crack in its crystalline shell. The beast bucked, slamming into a building to crush me. I pulled the blade free and jumped, but not fast enough. Its wing clipped me in the shield, sending me through a water tower.

I landed hard, my armour soaked, and I gasping. The beast was already charging another area attack, energy particles condensing around it. I sprinted toward the nearest building - a parking garage.

I couldn't make it, danger sense screaming, and once again blocked it with a shield. Holding back the laser was as strenuous as the first time, and it felt like forever before the beam died down.

The moment the onslaught stopped, I ran deeper into the garage, the beast crashing through the entrance behind me. Its bulk was almost too large for the space. Its five-story body simply crashed through the building.

There was an open area inside, a spiraling path upward in the garage from the first level to the roof. I started jumping across it. Second floor. Third. Fourth. The beast was crashing through the building behind me, its energy blades carving through support columns, judging by how the whole structure groaned.

Even as I reached the top floor, I didn't stop. I ran straight for the edge but jumped upwards. The beast followed, bursting through the roof-

Just as the weakened parking garage collapsed beneath it, I fell on its head and drove my sword into its small, stupid head. Then, pushing off it, I jumped up before it could bisect me with a blade.

Tons of concrete and rebar crashed down. The beast roared, that distinctive "SKREEEEOOONK!", as it fell into the collapsing structure. I landed on an adjacent building, turning to watch.

It erupted from the rubble, very much alive. More cracks showed in its crystalline form, energy leaking like torrents of luminous blood.

It went Eva 01 on me.

Energy blades extended from every part of its body, a whirling sphere of destruction. I realized that my sword, sticking from its head, was his now, and jumped clear as the entire remains of the parking lot were reduced to slag.

Landing on the street, I had only Cap's shield. The beast rose from the molten wreckage, my sword still protruding from what I was relatively sure was its head. It was also leaking more energy now, movements becoming erratic.

But it was still coming.

I ran toward a collapsed overpass, using the tilted concrete as a ramp. The beast followed, energy building for another area blast. At the peak of the ramp, I turned and jumped backward, shield raised.

The blast hit me mid-air, but instead of resisting, in the air, it launched me as a cannonball. I felt like a surfer who was hit by a wave.

As the wave died down, I was sure that the fight was nearing its finish line.

The energy the Geometric Godzilla was leaking was becoming too much; the purple lines on its form were flickering, on and off, like a lightbulb that almost burned out.

I watched, lying on my back with the shield still raised to my chest, as the beast was jerkily trying to fly towards me, roaring and swinging its blade at the empty air and the surrounding buildings.

The beast's roar cut off. The energy that had been leaking became a torrent, and its levitation also seemed to cease working. It just collapsed with a thundering crack, raising a small cloud of dust and debris.

I lay there for a moment, breathing hard, everything hurting.

"Honkai energy dropping! Knightmare, report immediately!" I ignored my earpiece, not even knowing what to feel.

"How am I alive..." I whispered, letting my head drop, as I just stared into the sky.

"Knightmare! Knightmare report!" I was smiling like an idiot, still ignoring whoever was trying to talk to me and just... relaxing.

God, I need a cigarette.

Author Note: The knights were actually Templars (a bit changed up, because Honkai beasts in-game are kinda limited due to the game being limited), and the beast MC fought is an Emperor class. Nerfed a bit due to a nuke.

Please comment, I am curious what you guys think.