Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers

The overcast sky had cleared without them noticing, revealing the full moon hanging high in the night sky. The moon, as always, showered the earth with its silvery light, but mingling with the blood on the ground, it painted the world crimson.

Hua, holding Carole's hand, shuffled along the wall, keeping low. The surroundings were silent, the only sound the rustling of their clothes.

"Ugh… hiss…!"

A dazed moan and a pained hiss suddenly broke the silence. Hua stopped dead in her tracks. Carole, momentarily lost in thought, bumped into her back and quickly covered her mouth to stifle any further sound.

Bathed in the blood-red moonlight, a female corpse not far in front of them sat upright. Her shoulder bore gruesome tear marks, the flesh at the wound mangled as if ground by a blunt object. Half of her face was peeled away, exposing her teeth and gums.

She stared blankly at her bloody hands, seemingly unable to immediately comprehend her transformation into a zombie.

"Gulp…" Hua and Carole swallowed in unison. The sound was incredibly loud in the silent night. The zombie turned towards the source of the noise, the two girls' figures fully revealed before it.

The zombie's long hair hung loose. Its lips parted slightly, the thin skin that still connected them to its flayed cheek gradually tearing as its muscles twitched.

It rose stiffly and slowly. Perhaps due to its recent transformation, its control over its body was weak. It scrambled on the ground with its hands and feet, unable to stand up.

Hua, back against the wall, tilted her head back involuntarily until the skin on her neck stretched taut. Seeing the zombie's clumsy movements, a surge of courage welled up within her. She suddenly let go of Carole's hand, strode towards the zombie, and unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks.

Carole should have been cowering in fear, but perhaps influenced by her companion, she found an unexpected surge of courage. She quickly squatted down, rummaging through the debris on the floor. Miraculously, she found a broken armrest from an iron chair.

She charged forward, brandishing the armrest, shoving Hua aside. Then, she began to bludgeon the zombie's head with the iron bar, continuing until it was reduced to a pulpy mess of blood, bone fragments, and gore… until it no longer resembled a head. Only then did her body go limp, collapsing onto the ground.

Hua rushed to support her, trying to pull her up, but her own legs were weak, and she almost fell to one knee.

"Hiss…"

"Huff…"

"Crackle…"

Strange sounds suddenly emanated from the surroundings, growing in intensity, like a single drop of water rapidly swelling into a raging river.

The overhead lights flickered, and for an instant, a blue-white light illuminated everything around Hua – it was… a horde of zombies, grinning with bloody smiles, shuffling towards them.

As the light died, Hua, ignoring everything else, dragged Carole by one hand and fled towards what she remembered as the airport exit.

Carole screamed, her other hand clutching the iron armrest tightly as she was dragged across the smooth floor tiles.

She had tried to get up, but the tiles seemed to be covered in some sort of viscous liquid, making it impossible to gain her footing.

"Move!" she heard Hua shout.

Hua released her hand, and Carole scrambled to her feet. Hua delivered a flying kick, followed by a spinning back kick, sending three zombies blocking the exit flying.

"Go!"

The airport's entrance was just ahead, the faint light like a beacon in the darkness, drawing the two moths irresistibly towards it.

But then, both of them froze.

"This… This this this, how did we end up on the runway?"

It turned out that memory and intuition weren't reliable. They had taken a wrong turn somewhere, or perhaps their initial direction had been wrong from the start.

In any case, when they rushed out of the hall, all they saw was the airport runway with a few scattered planes.

And the so-called light was nothing more than the flickering flames from a crashed plane on the runway.

Though faint, the firelight illuminated a pair of forelegs as thick as a building – Hua finally understood why the entire airport had been shaking.

"What kind of monster is that?!"

Fortunately, the zombies in the terminal seemed hesitant and hadn't followed them out.

The two girls exchanged glances.

Unable to see each other's expressions in the darkness, Hua whispered, "I'm sorry…"

But Carole suddenly jolted, screaming.

Hua quickly pulled her close. Carole swung the iron armrest wildly, striking a dark shape.

"Thump!"

After a crisp sound, the dark shape fell to the ground. Hua picked it up and brought it closer to her face. It was… a mosquito? About the size of a hen?

"What is this thing?" In the dim light, Hua examined the "mosquito" in her hand.

It had a white exoskeleton, and its limbs and wings weren't tightly connected, the severed parts emitting a purple glow.

But she didn't have time to think. Carole's scream had attracted more of these creatures, and they had to run again.

Boom! The ground trembled violently. Even the giant beast on the distant runway reacted, slowly turning its massive body and lumbering towards Hua and Carole.

The airport runway offered little cover, and the girls didn't dare return to the terminal. They could only desperately hide under the landing gear of a plane, huddling behind the tires.

The plane vibrated with the ground, the tires sometimes even lifting off the ground, but Hua and Carole covered each other's mouths, not daring to make a sound.

The massive body slowly passed by the tail of the plane. It had no neck and could only shuffle its body, searching for its target.

"Chariot?"

But its immense size wasn't entirely advantageous. Just as humans wouldn't notice ants or insects, the twenty-meter-tall Chariot-class Honkai beast turned in a circle, unable to find the source of the scream.

Its movements only disoriented a group of Raider-class Honkai beasts, scattering them in all directions.

"Chariot…"

It uttered strange syllables, seemingly expressing its frustration at losing its prey, then continued its aimless trek.

Hua let out a long breath.

But then she sensed something was wrong—why hadn't the ground stopped shaking even after the giant monster had left? In fact, it was shaking even more violently.

"This feeling… behind us!"

Crack! The plane's fuselage was pierced like paper by a giant lance. The entire plane was then lifted by the lance's tip and casually tossed aside.

The Knight-class Honkai beast, twice the height of the Chariot, having cleared the obstacle in its path, raised its hoof to continue on its way.

It paused, looking down as if prompted by some instinct. Two girls huddled together, trembling. Seeing it, they lost even the will to flee.

The Honkai beast's hoof descended without a care—just as a human wouldn't bother avoiding ants.

Boom!

It tilted its head in confusion. It hadn't felt the ground beneath its hoof. Instead, it felt… resistance.

Mikael, wearing silver-white gauntlets, held his hands high, supporting the Knight-class Honkai beast's massive hoof. He even had the leisure to turn his head and offer a dry remark:

"Fancy meeting you here…"