HI3: Previous Civilization

"To live is to suffer; to survive is to find meaning in the suffering." – Friedrich Nietzsche

Things unfolded far beyond what the sisters had imagined.

They were taken to a dimly lit room, each bound fast to a chair, hands and feet securely clamped. A single wooden table sat between them with a small lamp on top, the rest of the space shrouded in darkness.

Someone stepped out of that darkness, pulled up a chair, and sat. Sakura recognized him: the top-ranked assassin of their old guild, known simply as "K." They once crossed paths during a mission.

Nobody knew his real name. After every kill, he'd leave a "K" card on the body. Eventually, people just called him K. Rumor had it he didn't kill just for money—he needed funds to treat some special disease that caused him constant pain. So whenever he got paid, he rushed off for more hospital treatments.

K set his arms on the table, adopting a commander-like pose.

"Long time no see, 'Forget-Me-Not.'"

Sakura said nothing.

"Why so silent?" he snapped, slamming a hand on the table, leaning in to grin with mock amiability. "See me as beneath you? Think I won't kill you right here?"

Startled by his sudden hostility, Rin nearly broke into sobs. K noticed the tears welling up in her eyes and gave a twisted sort of smile. "Don't be afraid, kid. I'm no saint… actually, none of us are saints…"

That only made Rin cry out in alarm again.

Seeing her sister so scared, Sakura seethed—this was her precious little sister. If punishment was due, only she should discipline her. Although Sakura couldn't speak with her jaw dislocated, her furious glare bored into K.

He returned her look with a gleeful smirk, as if to say, "Exactly. I like seeing you hate me but being powerless to stop me."

Sakura raged inwardly. 'This bastard's definitely messing with me on purpose—he can see my jaw's been taken apart…'

Right then, a young woman Sakura didn't recognize—Maya—emerged from the side and thumped K on the head with a dull thud.

"Bam!" He flew face-first into the wooden table, sending splinters everywhere.

Maya, hands on hips, frowned. "K, you're here to do a job, not toying with them."

K pried himself free, pushing away shards of table, clicking his jaw back into place with a snap.

"Seriously, Boss Lady, you can't go softer on me? You nearly broke my neck. I was working—Yàn-uncle said—"

Noting the warning glare, K quickly shut up. "Fine, fine, I'll quit complaining." He stood aside, pulling his chair out for her. "After you, Boss."

Sakura could only stare in disbelief. Was this truly the same top-ranked assassin? They'd crossed paths once, and he'd been the epitome of cold aloofness. Now he was acting like a silly lackey.

Maya settled in, one leg crossed over the other, arms folded. She tilted her head at Sakura, then signaled K with her eyes. K promptly went over and reattached Sakura's jaw in one swift motion.

Sakura spoke immediately: "Whatever you want, just do it to me—spare my sister."

"Big Sister…" Rin whimpered. "No, do it to me—just let her go!"

Maya rubbed her temple, looking at the two distraught sisters. Another whack smacked the back of K's skull.

"Relax. Neither one of you is leaving."

Rin and Sakura both froze.

"'Forget-Me-Not,' you have two choices," Maya declared bluntly. "One: Join us. Two: You and your sister go straight to the bio-power plant."

"We choose Number One!" both sisters shouted in unison.

And thus, they joined Break of Dawn.

Rin wasn't thrilled—she'd secretly hoped joining some special organization meant getting fancy hi-tech gear and being sent on dramatic missions. Instead, she ended up stuck going to school anyway. As for Sakura, she was relieved. At last, she had a proper identity and the quiet sort of life she'd always yearned for—even if "peaceful" was relative in a world threatened by Honkai. Through the group's audio recordings, she grasped fragments of the bigger picture, though the effect had waned over time. She was thankful to join Break of Dawn, finding it far preferable to Fire Moth. And thinking of her sister's potential future as a Herrscher, she sighed.

As for how Rin eventually met Fan, it was mostly by chance.

One day, Rin received her test results. Sighing at the poor grades, she dreaded Sakura's reaction: another "bamboo-shoot stir-fry" style punishment, perhaps. So she borrowed her sister's ID card…

…

Meanwhile, Fan had just finished visiting Mobius—where he'd noticed she'd recently recruited a new assistant, a blue-haired woman named Blanca. She had the same face as a grown-up Griseo, even. That had rattled him for a moment, but he'd shrugged it off. Life in a world with countless oddities was no place to overthink coincidences.

He boarded the elevator back to the Big Hollow with Ruoyin.

When the doors slid open, a small pink-haired figure peeked around the corner, scanning carefully before tiptoeing out. She wore a uniform from the school Fan's parents had built, an ID lanyard around her neck bearing an avatar suspiciously like Fan's. He couldn't shake a sense of familiarity.

He had Ruoyin check the database, and sure enough, the file popped up:

Name: Rin

Sister: Sakura (aka "Forget-Me-Not," an ex-assassin).

Both had undergone "friendly negotiation" and joined Break of Dawn. Currently, Sakura served under Maya in the "assassination unit," snuffing out threats to the organization.

"Assassination unit?" Fan murmured, perplexed. "I have an assassination unit under me now? When did that happen?" He skimmed the official docs, all with his own signature and seal. "Why can't I remember a thing…? Could it be… that time?"

…

Four months prior:

Maya came to him with a stack of paperwork asking for approval. He'd been distracted by other concerns, so after a quick glance—something about forming new squads and expanding membership—he signed off without a second thought. He'd recorded it in the system as well. At the time, a hidden worry weighed on him—some lingering problem with his body that remained unsolved. That was part of why he hadn't paid attention.

In that four-month span, he'd finally gleaned the daily quest reward: the 1-million-point-valuation Advanced Physics. Yet after seeing the towering text—a meter thick—he couldn't help griping: "Other systems just zap knowledge into your brain. Me? I have to read it cover to cover?!"

Still, with skill acceleration, he eventually slogged through it, finishing the monstrous volume. He also completed the initial concept he'd planned. By accelerating the friction in his cells, he could produce and channel electric current in his body. The real challenge was generating a rotating magnetic field, but he cracked that eventually, thanks to his gold-tier "Adaptive Evolution."

Yet once he'd done it, he felt a shift in his mental state. No longer did he only think about fleeing or beating Honkai from a safe distance. Now he wanted to crush it with overwhelming might. Realizing his mind was drifting uncomfortably close to that of a certain "magnetic psycho," he decided to bolster his will. He sank his savings into an e-shop purchase: the cheapest "superbeast energy-cultivation method" from some cross-dimensional store.

Of course, he'd forgotten one crucial detail: "A fountain's height never exceeds its source"—the power in Super Beast Warriors is bounded by the user's will. And so, ironically, it drove him even more delirious. Or perhaps we should say a "logical maniac" was born.

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"the fountain's height will never exceed its source," implying that an outcome (the fountain) is fundamentally limited by its origin (the source). It's a poetic way of saying your achievements (or power) can't surpass your inherent potential or willpower.