Honkai Archives: Old, Short, but Gold

"That's right. No matter what, I've got the advantage!"

Vill-V said excitedly, fidgeting with her black top hat adorned with gears.

Her hazel eyes seemed to shimmer with light.

Before she had gained the ability to run simulations, her mental exhaustion was severe. She had serious doubts and uncertainty about her abilities, her purpose, and her future.

But with the appearance of the simulations, her mental exhaustion had instantly vanished!

Through the simulations, she had seen countless possibilities for humanity's future, and she had learned much that she hadn't known before.

It was through the process of these simulations that she had eliminated her anxiety and her feeling of being fragmented.

She had become the real her, the complete me, the complete Vill-V!

Even though that had made her addicted to simulations.

But that wasn't important.

After all…

Reality? No good.

Simulations? Yes!

Revived, Vill-V launched a new simulation.

The other people with the ability to run simulations were in equally high spirits.

Although humanity had failed in this last simulation, they knew that as long as they ran a few more, humanity would definitely get better!

After all, humanity's greatest strength was growth. Anything that didn't kill humans would ultimately make them stronger.

Learning from the lessons of the previous simulations, and adding the experience of this last one, they could see that victory over the Honkai was just around the corner!

Gagagagaga—!

It seemed that in people's eyes, the Honkai was no longer an apocalyptic disaster that could threaten human civilization. It was just a trivial crisis in human history.

Indeed, as long as they could simulate, humanity would be able to find the best way to deal with the Honkai.

It was as if they knew a major disaster would occur in the future, and they could also simulate the process of this disaster.

With this foresight, no disaster would be a problem.

Unless...

[The First Honkai Eruption broke out. The Herrscher of Domination plunged all of human society into endless chaos and war. Humanity suffered heavy losses. Nearly half of the population died in this crisis, and many cities were reduced to wasteland.]

[The Second Honkai Eruption broke out. The Herrscher of Corruption used all of humanity's nuclear weapons to launch indiscriminate attacks. The machines made by humans turned against them. This crisis destroyed the entire human world and humanity lost all hope for the future. The humans who survived were left to die a slow death.]

[The Third Honkai Eruption broke out. The Herrscher of Flame eliminated almost all of the remaining humans. The destruction of humanity became a foregone conclusion…]

[You died.]

[Simulation complete.]

The simulation had started.

The simulation had ended.

Mobius: "???"

Mei: "???"

Vill-V: "???"

Kevin: "???"

...

Everyone who had been running simulations was dumbfounded.

"Hah? Hah hah? This…how could this be? What's going on?"

"This isn't right, is it?"

Simulations were very strange.

Through various complex parameters, they could accurately judge many possible futures.

These possible futures could be the future of humanity as a whole, or the future of an individual.

But human nature had made humans resist and reject the idea of the future being presented before their eyes. It was like when the truth was placed right in front of them, they often chose to ignore or disbelieve it.

But strangely, everyone who had used the simulations had become addicted to them.

Soon after the simulation ended, they all immediately started a new simulation.

But this last simulation had really confused everyone.

Human civilization had only lasted for two Honkai Eruptions, and then the third Honkai Eruption had destroyed it.

They died even faster than the first simulation!

"What's going on?"

Mei frowned and muttered to herself.

This was completely different from what she had imagined.

Not only did she not find anyone suitable to become a leader for humanity, but she had died before even becoming a high-ranking member of the Fire Moth.

"I don't understand!"

Kevin scratched his head, also looking confused.

In every previous simulation, he had started by wielding his baseball bat and destroying a Knight-class Honkai Beast, then either escaped or nearly escaped Nagazora City, which was being ravaged by the Honkai Eruption.

This time, he was wielding his baseball bat, but instead of a Knight-class Honkai Beast in front of him, it was... a bunch of Cannon-class Honkai Beasts, along with a few Temple-class!

The Honkai was completely unpredictable.

It was just… absurd!

"Could something have gone wrong?"

Mobius thought with a solemn expression.

In this simulation, she hadn't even survived the second Eruption and had died quickly. Humanity hadn't lasted past three Eruptions.

The speed of their destruction and the severity of it far exceeded all the previous simulations.

It made Mobius wonder if she was seeing things.

"Something is wrong with this Honkai. Putting the Herrscher of Domination, who is very dangerous to the entire human collective, first... According to the previous simulations, that's just not possible."

While she was thinking about the problem, Mobius suddenly felt her consciousness acting strangely.

Mei, who had also run a simulation, nodded in agreement, expressing her support of Mobius's feeling through quantum entanglement.

Vill-V had also noticed something was off.

"Hm~ Hmph~ Hmph ah ah ah ah ah~♪"

"What's happening?"

Compared to the other three intellectuals, Elysia was much more direct.

Hugging her pink plush doll, she twisted back and forth on the sofa, occasionally humming. Her white thigh-high stockings, barely covering her round thighs, had been pulled down in the process.

She didn't understand. She really didn't understand.

In her last simulation, humanity had already fought up to the 13th Herrscher, and was very close to defeating the Honkai.

Although the end result was a shame, she could still see the vibrant, thriving world in her mind, as if all she needed to do was follow the steps of the last simulation with some minor adjustments, and humanity would be able to defeat the Honkai completely.

But how had things changed so suddenly this time?

The Honkai was like it had suddenly woken up, its combat power was off the charts.

She tried to use her incredibly intelligent brain to think about why, but after a while, Elysia had successfully short-circuited her brain.

It was one of those things; those who understand it will, and those who don't, won't even if you explain it.

So, after her brain had been short-circuited for a while, Elysia did the simplest thing.

Simulation, start again!

"Hmph~ I refuse to believe that this simulation will be like that last one."

Pouting, Elysia started her next simulation.

The other Flame-Chasers, having recovered from their shock, also quickly began a new simulation.

Everyone who was running a simulation wanted to know why the Honkai had suddenly become so powerful and why humanity had been defeated so utterly.

So, without further ado,

Let the simulation begin!