NOVEL WEB Chapter 313: Kyoden: A Cleave Across the Transient World~~
"Remember, she is the Emanator of Nihility, the one she's declaring to is IX."
"I truly cannot imagine what Acheron went through to walk so deep, so far into Nihility, and still choose to persist, even knowing that it's all meaningless!"
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"Did you all notice?"
"Acheron only takes on that exaggerated appearance when drawing her sword."
"But when she sheathes her sword, she looks gentle, composed, and more vividly colored."
"So I started thinking, what if the Sword is like a key or something?"
"Acheron basically never draws her sword in combat. The restraint she shows in using her power is, in itself, a form of resistance against the Nihility."
"Because only when she draws her sword does she become the Nihility Wielder."
Miss Yun offered a very emotional idea.
This notion gave the audience a sudden realization.
Drawing the sword is becoming the Wielder? Sheathing it is resistance?
And this idea aligns with how the show portrays Acheron's restraint in using martial power.
She's obviously that powerful, just one move and she could effortlessly break through the conspiracy, yet she chooses to throw herself into it.
"But what exactly it means, we'll have to finish this Myriad Celestia Trailer to know for sure."
"Maybe I guessed wrong." Miss Yun grew more excited as she spoke.
She immediately stole the mouse from Rion.
Sometimes, emotional people are better able to get the emotional moments in Honkai: Star Rail.
Rion didn't mind, happily yielding the initiative to her.
And Miss Yun couldn't wait to grab the mouse and click on the Myriad Celestia Trailer: [Kyoden: A Cleave Across the Transient World]
...
"Do you still remember ...why Izumo forged these blades?"
After a brief black screen, a stunning image suddenly appeared!
A massive iron mountain was cracking apart, scorching lava gushed from the fissures.
On screen, the viewers' vision was completely blocked by the massive mountain.
Only when the camera moved closer did they realize, it wasn't a mountain of iron, it was a mountain of blades!
Countless weapons of various shapes were smelted together, forming a dreadful visual.
Broken weapons occasionally fell away from the mountain.
There was no music, only the sound of metal melting and the torrential rain pounding around the iron mountain.
Yet even the heavy rain could not extinguish the lava in the "mountain," heightening the overwhelming sense of tragedy and devastation.
Viewers could practically smell the scent of rust through the screen.
Flames and ruins.
Apocalypse and blood.
That was the first impression.
And beneath this apocalyptic scene was the silhouette of a young girl.
She wore pure white clothing and stood firmly on the harsh terrain.
Two red horns adorned her head.
Because of those horns, the audience didn't immediately recognize her as Acheron.
But when the girl lifted her head, revealing a face slightly younger, softer, and more confused than the current Acheron,
Everyone finally confirmed it.
This girl was the younger Acheron.
Compared to the later Emanator of Nihility, this Acheron was more naïve, less mature, and thus full of more color and emotion.
"Because in times past,"
"When the Yaoyorozu-no-Kami descended here,"
"They wrought death and disaster on this world and its people."
"To save the world,"
"Izumo splintered seventy thousand and thirty-three blades"
"and forged them into 12 sentinels."
As Acheron spoke, through the blood-red hues of the mountain of weapons, overlapping phantom-like scenes emerged.
Broken torii gates, ruined buildings, and countless weapons stuck upright in the ground.
The background music was heavy.
Those shattered scenes began to rewind, returning to their former state.
With a torii at the center, the dilapidated buildings turned back into high-rises, and the blood-colored iron mountain became a colossal sculpture.
It was evident, Acheron's hometown used to be a highly developed, technologically advanced place.
As Acheron continued speaking, a grand orchestral score began, echoing the growing sense of desolation.
A blue greatsword, its entire body covered in irregular yet symbolically ordered lines, tore through the sky, and pierced directly through a hideous monster.
"The first was 'Truth',"
"forged by the Sovereign of Revelation."
"It could teach mortals the way of the law, and create miracles from the deconstruction of all things.."
Acheron's PV had no filler.
It opened with an explosion of visual effects to firmly grasp the audience's attention.
Then, with a few brief yet powerful lines, it laid out the premise.
And immediately followed with the reveal of the first Guardian Edict Sword.
Also, with explosive visual effects!
...
: As expected of Acheron's PV, the budget is bursting at the seams! These visuals are insane!
: The flickering scene in the beginning, could it be hinting at the number of sacrifices?
: Did Acheron's homeland suffer immense loss to resist something?
: Are they fighting the Nihility? Are these monsters from the Nihility?
: Is Acheron's homeland still around? Or has it been destroyed?
: I mean, the Sentinels look super powerful! Surely they wouldn't be wiped out… It's not like they're Avgins.
: Damn! What did Aventurine ever do to you!
...
Honkai Impact 3rd has not yet been released.
So the audience doesn't understand the explicit references to Honkai Impact 3rd in this Acheron PV.
But even without understanding, it doesn't hinder the message this PV wants to convey.
Just as the audience was busy speculating, one after another "Sentinel Blades" appeared.
In the twisted sky, one by one "black holes" emerged, a black hand tore the sky open, grabbing and engulfing the entire frame.
"The second was, 'Sky'."
"forged by the Eternal Zenith."
"It could form a barrier from the firmament, and prevent the innumerable gods of misery from passing through."
As the words fell, a long blade, like a lightsaber, pink in color with golden metal stripes running over it was revealed.
Next came the blades Howl and Mist.
"The third was, 'Howl'."
"able to summon lightning to rend the heavens, and meteors to rain down divine punishment."
"The fourth was, 'Mist'."
"able to break earth and tear cloud with biting wind and rain."
A long blade formed by thunder, and a blade shaped from green-color junctions.
The subtle thing is, even though the audience hasn't seen Honkai Impact 3rd, the colors and appearance shown in the PV always give them a strange sense of déjà vu.
They clearly shouldn't have seen weapons with these themes before.
But in earlier episodes, they seemed to have seen something similar somewhere.
Perhaps it's a similar color, or a resemblance hidden in the lore.
...
: What's with this strange sense of déjà vu?
: Hmm... very weird.
: But to be fair, these blades look really cool, and they all have unique powers.
: They seem to have a very high standing too.
...
Under this sense of déjà vu, the audience stared at the screen without blinking.
Accompanied by wave after wave of sentinels and their shocking effects.
"The fifth was, 'Frost'."
"freezing the land in an instant."
"The sixth was, 'Fate'."
"the restless cycle of life and death."
"Then there was, 'Flare'."
"'Thought'."
"'Root'."
"'Form'."
"'Bind'."
"'Maw'."
The remaining Sentinels also revealed their forms.
After seeing this, some people finally figured it out.
...
: I got it! I know where this sense of déjà vu comes from.
: It's the uniqueness of their standing!
: What do you mean by uniqueness of their standing?
: It's like, like, all previous Myriad Celestia Trailers, including PVs, had a clear attribution. I mean within the Honkai: Star Rail worldview. They all belonged to a specific Path, or to a certain Aeon! But in this PV alone, none of these awesome blades have a clear Path attribution!
: Holy crap! You're right!
: Even if they do, it can only be guessed through appearance or names.
: So we feel unfamiliar, and when unfamiliar, we instinctively try to associate them with a Path. And in doing so, we pick up little details that give us faint clues, and that's what gave us this déjà vu?
: And most importantly, these blades clearly aren't some toy-like things. The power they contain is definitely destruction and violence!
: But this violence doesn't clearly belong to any Path, giving the feeling of power from another world?
: Hmm… alien, but not that distant.
: A little strange, but this setting gets me really excited. Could this be a hidden foreshadowing from Mihoyo, hinting that the Honkai: Star Rail universe still has a completely unrevealed side?
: Oh my god, is Acheron's homeland really that special?
: Now I'm even more curious about what exactly happened here!
...
As the twelve Sentinel Blades are revealed one by one, the audience finally caught on.
These twelve blades each have their own power.
This power is very independent. A setting never seen before, and the current visual suggests an intense domain formed by accumulated forces.
Just as everyone was deep in discussion, the trumpet sounds in the video grew more intense, and that sense of hope seemed about to burst out of the screen.
Twelve hands, tightly gripping their blades.
Together, they swear an oath to the heavens.
At this moment, Acheron's voice also carried a slight wave of excitement.
"With those sentinels we seized on tomorrow's expectation, winning victory after victory, until... "
A male voice suddenly interrupted:
"...all of them were broken"
The screen flashed.
The twelve Sentinel Blades all shattered in a flash of stark white.
The music also came to a sudden halt. One second later, a sorrowful cello began to play a Nihility-like requiem.
Only one hand remained, along with the other hands turned black.
All around are countless black hands, trying to climb upward.
There are simply too many black hands. In just the blink of an eye, they have already engulfed the only intact hand.
"The price of every victory was a world in its entirety..."
"and in the end, that entirety was lost."
The white-clothed young Acheron fell.
Her familiar homeland, with hopeful trumpets and scenery, in the blink of an eye, scattered with the crimson unfamiliar elegance of the concealed and empty sky.
She kept falling, surrounded by ruins.
Perhaps unwilling to look any longer, Acheron closed her eyes, her eyes dimming a little.
A graceful piano melody slowly began to play.
Again, the patter of falling rain appeared on the screen against a black background.
"And so Izumo splintered twelve Sentinels..."
"and forged them into two Bearers."
"The first was "Origin.""
"The second was "End.""
Acheron held the Origin.
And that familiar mountain of swords appeared once again, this time a handle of a sword clearly sticking out above it.
Only this time, at the foot of the mountain, many monsters had gathered.
And next to the handle of the huge sword was the word End.
"The world forged 70,047 blades,"
"and only one could save Izumo."
"But you and I both know..."
"... the road to salvation does not exist."
"There is no trace of tomorrow..."
Amid the solemn music, Acheron, wielding her blade, charged without hesitation into the mountain shrouded by the black tide.
That black tide was not a tangible thing, but a concept.
Monsters emerged one after another from within like a flood, no matter how many Acheron cut down, the tide never ceased.
And the male voice continued:
"In resisting the Kamigami, humanity will eventually become oni (End)."
"We pawned everything, all for the destruction of two worlds."
In the unending battle, the music finally reached its climax.
Acheron's hair flew, her eyes burning with fierce resolve.
In that instant! the mountain in which The End was struck was severed!
"In times past, Takamagahara upon which the Kami descended..."
"was surely as beautiful as Izumo."
No. It wasn't only the End that splintered.
The End and the Origin broke together.
Only then, did the audience finally see the true forms of the two blades.
The End was rugged and massive, while the Origin had already taken the familiar form of Acheron's sword.
At the moment both blades broke,
The male voice once again asked asked:
"So... "
"Do you still remember why Izumo forged these blades?"
This time, Acheron finally answered.
And her voice subtly changed.
Unlike her earlier tone, full of human warmth when introducing the world-saving decree blades and declaring her oath, now her voice was closer to that of the Acheron from Penacony.
"Because of a lie."
"An end that never existed."
"We long since strode into THEIR shadow, each step forward one that we can never walk back..."
Acheron gripped the broken Origin. A single tear of blood fell from her eye, staining the blade.
Tears carry human emotion.
And when it fell upon the blade, that emotion reshaped it entirely.
"...until the last blade (Life) is forged into..."
The screen went black.
A giant, ink-brushed character filled the screen, "Naught"
At that moment, Acheron advanced with the blade. Her horns broke and scattered into the wind, and her hair turned snow-white.
The Acheron the audience knew finally appeared on screen.
Then, she slashed a blood-red arc into the sky.
In the direction of that slash, the camera finally revealed the answer to the audience's long-standing question.
It seemed that Izumo had once been saved or almost been saved.
But in the end, who were they fighting against?
Why break the swords?
And why forge the final blade: "Naught"?
The truth was now clear.
For the sun in the center of the sky had vanished without anyone noticing.
All that remained was a pitch-black sun like object, a black hole.
The XI loomed in the sky, casting its equal and silent "light" over Izumo, and over Acheron.
With that final slash, the previously explosive visuals suddenly folded in, transforming into three static images.
Beneath the black hole, ukiyo-e style* illustrations sketched the history of Izumo.
"I know this world was fleeting..."
"...and yet... and yet…"
In a field of whiteness, Acheron's whispers sounded.
Her restrained emotions touched the hearts of those watching.
But Acheron never finished her "and yet."
And so, the Myriad Celestia Trailer came to an end.
The audience were left in melancholic silence.
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*Ukiyo-e Style (浮世絵) is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica. The term ukiyo-e (浮世絵) translates as "picture[s] of the floating world".