…

The man now named “Welt” couldn't understand what just happened. Ever since the day he started forming memories again, nobody else had so casually given him such a baffling degree of freedom — even though “the day he started remembering” was not that long ago.

It was this same season, three years ago, when he first opened his eyes to a scene of chaos. Unfamiliar men and women were inspecting him, asking him all sorts of questions, questions that one would only ask a lost child.

“What is your name?”

“Where do you live?”

“What is your nationality?”

“…”

It was a strange feeling — you undoubtedly knew all the answers, yet you could not “congeal” or solidify those answers in your brain. It was as if all the neurons that wove the sea of your memories were fried.

“I don't know”

This was the one response that the young man could muster.

He could still remember how to speak — yet he didn't know whether this was something he should be grateful for. German, English, Russian, Latin … even Japanese and Chinese. He couldn't remember how he came to understand so many languages.

“Who am I?”

He quite naturally retorted with such a question.

“We don't know either”

The others replied. Then they unleashed a torrent of conversation, though they might as well have been speaking to themselves.

“Schicksal”. Our “Destiny”. A secret organisation with a long history. The true masters of the world, the saviours of humanity.

“Honkai”. The “Collapse”. The one calamity that science has yet to explain completely. Since the dawn of civilisation, it has polluted the human world, transforming peaceful creatures into terrifying demons. These monsters or “Honkai Beasts”, in their alien plastic flesh, strike fear into us all.

“Myself”. I, who lost my memory, was the sole survivor of a Honkai event. Its location was Berlin, where it had originated from some multi-storeyed building.

“My body”. Within this fortunate body of mine hides a great secret — for the sake of saving more people, I must accept their plans for experimentation on my body: it is my only option.

One month. Another month. Month after month.

One year. Another year. Year after year.

The young man, code-named “Ω1”, was taken from one laboratory to another, to repeat the exact same thing, over and over again.

To bear the unbearable, suffer the insufferable.

“Please cooperate with us.”

“Please consider it for the sake of humanity.”

“These are unavoidable side effects.”

A flock of lunatic scientists. Saving humanity and what not: it's all just a load of hogwash.

Did you not say that I am a fortunate survivor? Then why do I have to needlessly suffer through such manner of misfortune?

The “humanity” that you repeatedly emphasise, who are they really? Where is your humanity?

There were moments where I really wanted to just die and be done with it.

…

If it wasn't for that chatterbox who kept checking in on me.

To Ω:

A good October to you. Time flies: this would already be my 22nd letter to you — last time I had finished telling you the story of the Lady Saint. But before I seek new stories to regale, let us first discuss what is happening around us.

I have already heard of the terrible incident in September, and I apologise on their behalf. Well, it just so happens that there is a new laboratory: I anticipate you will be able to transfer to it soon. Whether the circumstances will be more favourable than your previous lab, that I cannot say for certain — because from what I hear, the new person in charge is a lady with a rather “earnest” personality.

However, I must inform you from the standpoint of Schicksal: all the experiments you've been through, have been for the continued survival of a certain species on this planet, one so-called “Homo sapiens” — hence your continued and necessary suffering. The world will always treat some people unfairly, and this is something none of us can really change.

It has already been three years since the disaster in Berlin. The city has already begun its reconstruction. The people will slowly forget the horrors of that night.

Yet we all know that, at this present moment, a sinister power continues to grow and fester within the rift of space-time. It spared you back then, but it did not spare the others. If we are able to truly fathom the logic behind this phenomenon, then we “Homo sapiens” will be able to live up to our name, to use our sapience to conquer the natural world — then no one will ever need to spend another day living in fear or delusion, deceiving themselves and others.

Yes, this is most unfair to you; in fact the most recent events have been particularly unjust to you. But if only for my sake, I hope you can understand and forgive everything. The fate of all humanity, in a certain sense, rests upon your shoulders.

P.S.

Concerning your background before your memory loss: as far as I know, the relevant department should still be looking into this — but as you may already recognise, it has been more than three years since the incident, and the possibility of getting any results will only become slimmer with time. But I don't believe that so-called “Child of Honkai” Theory. You can't be a Herrscher, right?

Perhaps the arrival of new technology will bring about some unexpected turnaround of the whole situation … who knows? The new laboratory really isn't that bad; in fact, I believe when you get there you'll be quite willing to cooperate with them — trust me.

Your old pal，

Clown Alpha

1955.10.2.