Lights in a Starless Sky - A Honkai Impact 3rd Fanfiction

Act 43: Pilgrimage

Unknown Time: Infirmary, Shicksal HQ

Lurching upwards with a scream, Perceval clutched his chest firmly while sweat ran down his chin. His panting was loud and pained, complemented by the ghostly white complexion on his face. The agonising pain in his chest he was sure he felt only seconds ago was now gone, his breathing slowly returning to normal. With the petrifying feeling removed from his heart, the Knight looked around to notice he was in a hospital bed; surrounded by a beige curtain that flapped lightly. Perceval looked down to his chest and noticed that he was covered in bandages, his right hand also wrapped tightly in the coverings. The air smelled of formalin, industrial cleaner and faintly of blood. Relaxing his shoulders, the Knight slumped down to the bed and released a faint sigh as his spine trembled with relief. "... I'm alive... That's a start..." 

The sound of the curtain mounts clacking against the steel bars above him alerted Perceval to a familiar silver haired girl who floated above the ground. The Knight's face twisted in nostalgia, his lips parting with bated breath. "Bronya...?" He asked, slowly beginning to sit up in his comfortable sheets. "I thought you were still at St. Freya..." 

Bronya nodded softly, resting her hands on the railings of Perceval's bed; her lips still stiff and emotionless. "Da. The Bronya only transferred here this morning." She gestured reassuringly. "Madam Principal contacted me remotely after all Shicksal communication went down. The Bronya found the Perceval unconscious."

Perceval's blood ran cold. The Knight's heart skipped and rushed into a furious pounding, he leaned forward towards Bronya while ignoring the stinging pain in his right hand as he laid his hands against the railing: the cold metal bringing a shiver to his warm skin. "W-What about Bianka?" The Knight asked worryingly, his eyes trembling with anticipation. "Is she alright, Bronya?" 

Theresa appeared beside Bronya, climbing up onto the chair beside the floating girl with a strained groan; her white hair messy and unkempt, clearly created by Theresa's busy work. "Durandal's alright, Perceval. But she was more worried about you." The self-proclaimed World's Number One Cutie sighed as she stood up on the chair, just barely able to see over the railing of Perceval's bed. "She healed your injuries first with Abyss Flower. When we arrived, she was on the verge of passing out."

The Knight looked down to his chest and right hand, inquisitively frowning at the bandages. "Then..." He muttered, pulling back the bandages off his right hand. "Why the bandage-" 

He answered his own question before he could finish asking it. From the base of his middle finger to the base of his wrist lay a pale pink scar on the back of his hand, the skin around it still slightly red and throbbed with a wave of pain that almost split Perceval's head. The pattern was rough, sharp, ominous. Theresa frowned softly, bowing her head in the process. "Durandal was lucky that she was able to absorb a lot of the Honkai channelled in the Lance that struck her. But you... You suffered intense Honkai Sickness... Fatal Honkai Sickness." She trailed off. "If it wasn't for you stopping the Lance with your hand, it would have pierced your heart and not even Abyss Flower would have been able to heal you."

"... The Perceval's scars are permanent. No amount of reconstruction or healing would rid you of the scars the Herrscher inflicted on you. Not even the Bronya's power of Reason could fix them."

Perceval looked up to the ceiling with a heavy sigh as he fell back to the bed, holding his hand above his head so he could observe the now permanent scar. "So it wasn't a dream... The Final Herrscher really is..." 

He couldn't finish that sentence. But Theresa did. 

"The Kiana we knew vanished. We don't know where she is at the moment. But we can assume that this 'Kiana' that is the Herrscher of the End is an enemy, given what happened this morning."