When I heard the gunshots, my first thought was that surviving military personnel or desperate civilians had gotten their hands on weapons by chance. As much as I wanted to head over immediately, I decided it was smarter to find a better vantage point and observe the situation first.
After all, human nature is fickle, especially when backed into a corner for survival.
"A girl around our age with a reckless fighting style, and... a little girl with a hovering robot behind her back. What an eccentric duo..."
Mei muttered, narrowing her eyes as she watched Kiana and Bronya dispatch the surrounding zombies with ease. We were currently standing on an intact platform on the seventh floor, though the rest of the building had been reduced to a pile of rubble.
Naturally, I recognized who they were the instant I laid eyes on them. An involuntary sigh escaped my lips when I caught sight of Project Bunny hovering behind little Bronya.
I knew wishing otherwise was completely pointless, but realizing I couldn't change the timeline, nor even be given a fair chance to try, just didn't sit right in my chest.
I had foolishly thought I could stop the outbreak from happening, but it had happened anyway. My only real solace was the fact that Mei hadn't fully awakened her Herrscher persona. She hadn't shown any unusual symptoms since I saved her, so I was reasonably confident on that front.
But Bronya and Seele...
If Bronya already had Project Bunny now, it meant Seele's fateful experiment wasn't an event waiting to happen in the future — it was already locked away in the past.
Which meant Seele was... likely trapped down in the Sea of Quanta at the moment, waiting for Bronya to rescue her years later.
"What's wrong, Haru-kun? You don't look so good."
"It's nothing. I just remembered I need to punch someone in the face real bad."
"Eh?"
ROOOOAAR!
We simultaneously whipped our heads back toward the street below. A Chariot-class Honkai beast had just burst onto the scene, standing aggressively between the two girls. I recognized it immediately as one of the standard mobs featured in every tutorial level of the game.
"Speak of the devil."
What a convenient excuse for a change of subject. I knew the beast would be drawn to them sooner or later, especially with how recklessly Kiana was firing off her pistols. By this point, the two of them had practically cleared out a third of the local zombie population on their own.
'I guess wielding a 7th Divine Key makes all the difference,' I thought, glancing down at the aluminum bat in my hand before looking back at the battle.
Then again, it was Kiana using it. Even though she seemed entirely ignorant of her weapon's true secondary form, she was still devastatingly lethal with it. That was to be expected of a Kaslana.
If it were me, I wouldn't be able to utilize it at all since the bullets were forged from pure Honkai energy rather than lead. My body might possess a degree of resistance to Honkai radiation, but that didn't mean I could naturally generate it to fuel the weapon.
Unless, of course, the robot surgeons from Halo had quietly upgraded my internal biology without telling me. Case in point, I wouldn't put myself in such a risky situation without valid proof backing it up.
Anyhow, that explained why the Judgement of Shamash seemed to have infinite ammunition even in the Tuna's clumsy hands. A powerful weapon was only as good as its wielder.
"Mei, you must be curious about how I seem so unfazed and knowledgeable about all of this? I suppose I haven't really tried to hide it."
Seeing Kiana charge head-on at the Chariot, I turned my gaze back to Mei. My unusual strength and stamina were bound to raise flags, especially since we had been clearing out zombies side by side.
"...Mm. You didn't seem nervous at all the entire time, and your situational awareness completely outclassed mine. If I didn't know better, I would have thought you had prepared yourself specifically for a disaster like this."
I nodded at her deduction. Honestly, I had never planned on keeping my abilities a secret from her forever. Of course, the whole 'transmigration from another world' concept was too wild to just casually drop, that was a secret I had to keep buried deep in my heart until we trusted each other implicitly. It is crucial to my existence after all.
And I must not forget that this was the Honkai world.
Sooner or later, I would be forced to use my abilities openly. If I kept such massive secrets hidden until the absolute worst moment, anyone would feel betrayed finding out the person they cared about had lied by omission.
I had read enough novels to know that forced misunderstandings were one of the most frustrating tropes out there. So, I decided to be upfront about the important parts right now.
Sure, I couldn't explain the mechanics of the Chaos Gacha system precisely, and there was no reason to bring it up anyway. At least, not yet.
I trusted Mei, but information had a way of leaking, and I definitely didn't want that clown Otto getting his grubby hands on my system.
My current physical capabilities however? That was an easy explanation.
"I have some... special powers. You've seen my strength, which can be summed up simply by saying my baseline specs are superhuman."
"Superhuman like punching holes straight through solid concrete walls?"
"That and more."
Her eyes widened in disbelief as my hand vanished into thin air up to the wrist, pulling out Vordt's Great Hammer with effortless casualness.
"This might look like an oversized club, but it's actually a weapon called a Great Hammer. It's awfully heavy for an ordinary person, weighing around 200 kilograms. But for me? It feels like carrying a light stick."
I gave the massive weapon a couple of test swings right in front of her. The sheer velocity and surface area violently displaced the air, kicking up a strong gust of wind. Naturally, I stopped immediately before I ended up drawing unwanted attention from the street below.
"With this thing, I believe I can easily obliterate that monster in a single surprise strike."
"I see. Is that why you're telling me now? You're planning to jump in and finish it off?"
Instead of being terrified by my display of freakish power, Mei simply nodded with an understanding, gentle smile. Her reaction was much calmer than I had anticipated, and she caught on remarkably fast, instantly grasping why I was choosing to confide in her right now.
It felt less like I was dropping a terrifying bombshell on her and more like I was patiently walking her through a difficult math problem. Though my choice of what I could explain to her, and what to keep, might played a bigger role than I think.
"...Yes. Aren't you surprised? I just told you I have a body capable of doing the impossible."
I tried flexing my biceps like some gym rat, but Mei just giggled softly at my clumsy attempt. My physical stats might be superhuman, but I definitely wasn't some muscle-bound freak.
"No, I am surprised. It's just... seeing this helps me understand the logic behind your calm demeanor. I'm just relieved it wasn't some reckless, false bravado."
To her credit, she genuinely looked relieved, so there had to be truth in her words. Maybe I had consumed too much slop in the past, because I had subconsciously expected a much louder, more panicked reaction.
Then again, this level-headed response was entirely in character for Mei. She had always been deeply empathetic and understanding toward the people close to her, qualities that would eventually allow her to reclaim the Gem of Conquest from Kiana, and save her life when she later re-awakened as the Herrscher of Thunder by accepting the Herrscher persona as another part of herself.
"Thank you for your unconditional trust, Mei. Now, I'll go ahead first and turn that Honkai beast into dust before it can hurt those two."
With a confident grin, I unhesitatingly vaulted over the edge of the platform and plunged straight into the fight with a much less burden on my shoulders.