The tall, brunette man wearing glasses, a scarf, and a trenchcoat observed the captain's comatose form through the window. With such mundane, everyday clothing, no one would suspect his true identity if not already aware of it.
The man was Bronya Zaychik's teacher. He had been her teacher twice. The first was when he had been disguised as a professor of history at St. Freya Academy. He had been there to spy and gather information on the school's workings, and by extension, Schicksal's. Bronya had been his student then. She had nearly broken down during his lecture about the aftermath of the Second Honkai Eruption. It was simple to discover why.
While his teaching position had only been a cover, he felt the genuine responsibility for his students that any teacher should. It was for this reason that he was glad that the captain of the Hyperion had managed to comfort Bronya when she needed him the most, for which the man was grateful.
His name had been Professor John Nokianen then. He thought to himself that it was surprising how no one had realized that it was derived from his real one. He had formally met the captain of the Hyperion at an assembly at St. Freya they had both spoken at. The captain had been nervous about the speech he had been about to give. Welt had reassured him that he had nothing to worry about. While their relationship had not been one of complete honesty on Welt's part, they understood and respected each other. Welt knew that the captain had been the reason why his two closest companions, Tesla and Einstein, had been able to escape Otto's attack at the beach resort despite being a Schicksal officer at the time, for which he was eternally grateful. If only he could thank him for it now.
Time passed, and Welt had become trapped in the Sea of Quanta, where it was unlikely he would have ever escaped had it not been for Bronya's actions. He had entrusted his core and the three hundred thousand souls contained within it to her then. He had been teaching her to master the powers and responsibilities of Reason. She still had it now, but it no longer had any power for her.
Welt Yang closed his eyes and thought about the events currently unfolding.
The Herrscher of Domination had proven more dangerous than they had expected. It had seemingly been defeated, but it had returned shortly afterwards, and it was currently locked in a battle with Kiana, Bronya, and Fu Hua. This battle did not seem like one in the valkyries' favour. Welt longed to help them, but he was unable to. He was no longer the Herrscher of Reason, and while he was still far from defenceless, direct combat was deemed too dangerous for him. He had no choice but to trust in Bronya and the others now.
He watched as Tesla completed the test she had been running on the captain, a worried expression on her face. She walked out and stood in front of Welt.
"How is Captain Hyperion, Tesla?" he asked.
She shook her head. "I hate to say this, Welt, but things aren't getting any better for him. The Herrscher's power inside him is becoming stronger over time, and nothing we've done has been able to slow her down or stop her. We've been doing everything we can...but I'm starting to think that it could be already too late to save him."
Welt looked at her with an expression of sadness. He had known that this was the likely outcome. Even so, he refused to accept it.
"We may have no choice but to euthanize him so that Sirin doesn't take over his body. Believe me, Welt, when I say that I hate this option and want nothing more than to destroy the Herrscher and save him...I haven't even had the chance to tell him how grateful I am that he helped me escape from that crazy maid. But if the worst happens and we have no other choice, this could be the only way to save him from Sirin," she said with her eyes closed.
"Tesla…"
"I'm not saying that we should do this or that Einstein and I won't keep searching for ways to help him. But sometimes, sacrifice for the greater good is unavoidable...you understand, don't you?"
His eyes darkened. He did not answer.
Tesla opened her eyes and began making her way to the situation room. She had to know about the current state of the battle against the Herrscher of Domination.
A loud beeping noise came from Tesla's phone. Alarmed, she pulled it out.
"Oh, fuck…"
"What happened, Tesla?" Welt asked, alert.
"It's Sirin! The Honkai energy levels in the captain's body suddenly spiked like crazy! She's -"
Welt swiftly grabbed onto Tesla and threw both of them to the ground as a loud explosion rattled throughout the base. The walls of the containment room the captain of the Hyperion had been in were destroyed in an instant, the equipment and other items in the room lying on the ground in ruined fragments.
Welt quickly made sure that Tesla hadn't been injured, and he helped her onto her feet. She had been slightly dazed by the force of the explosion, but she quickly analyzed the situation and came to the obvious conclusion.
"Welt...we're too late...she's already taken over…"
Welt looked through the cloud of dust that obscured the room. In the middle of it was the outline of a man.
The dust cleared, and the captain of the Hyperion became visible.
He stood as if he had no concerns in the world, and he had a casual, lighthearted facial expression that suggested he enjoyed what he had just done and would enjoy doing more things like it. His burning gold eyes were indications of the power he now wielded.
Welt knew what must be done. He put his hand on Tesla's shoulder and spoke to her in a low voice.
"Tesla, move. Get to safety and alert everyone in the base about what's happened. I'll do my best to stall her, but I won't be able to defeat her. Alert Theresa, Seele, and fifty mechs here. I won't be able to do this alone."
"Welt…" she said, a teardrop forming in her eye. She blinked it out of existence. "You aren't a Herrscher anymore…"
The captain stepped forward. He didn't seem to have noticed the two yet. He was far more focused on the raw power that he felt coursing through every bit of his being. It was indescribable. It was intoxicating. And it was all his.
He had awakened. He had found the purpose he had been searching for for so long. And he was not alone.
She was with him.
I am always with you.
"I'm far from defenceless, Tesla. Remember?" Welt said with a smile, hoping to reassure her. He quickly embraced her before pushing her into the direction she needed to run. "Now go!"
Tesla ran off. The captain noticed her scurrying away.
"Such a coward."
"She's no coward, Sirin. In many cases, standing and fighting is foolishness instead of bravery."
"Of course the traitor would say that. My queen told me about you. The so-called "Herrscher of Reason". How you betrayed our cause for the sake of humans instead. Disgusting. I'm glad to see that you're a Herrscher no longer. Killing you will be simple," he said with a grin.
"What's disgusting is the way you imposed your will on a man as noble as him, Sirin. I'll only ask you this once: relinquish your hold over him and vanish."
The captain laughed. "And how are you going to make her do that, traitor? I want her with me. I need her now. She's my queen, and she's given me purpose. My purpose is to serve her needs with all of my might. And her first need is to be rid of you. I'd also appreciate it if you stopped addressing me as 'Sirin'. I'm her chosen, which you're about to learn first-hand."
In a perverse way, Welt was glad that Sirin hadn't changed a bit from the last time he had confronted her over a decade and a half ago. She had been boastful and arrogant then. She had also been very talkative, which was now buying him and the others time.
Welt smiled. "And right now, my need is to see you rid of her. Star of Eden!" he yelled.
While he now lacked the powers of the Herrscher of Reason, he had had the foresight to create a copy of the ninth Divine Key for his personal use before he had passed his powers on to Bronya. He had ensured that he would always be fully capable of defending himself. A roughly spherical object appeared over his outstretched palm, bolts of red and black energy radiating from it.
The Star of Eden was one of the most powerful Divine Keys, and his copy of it was no weaker than the original. It could manipulate gravity, and right now, Welt had enclosed the captain in a field of gravity a hundred times the strength of Earth's.
The captain grunted as the crushing pressure forced him to his knees. This traitor dared to raise a hand against him and his queen?
"How are you liking the effects of a hundred times Earth's gravity, Sirin? I could easily increase it a hundred times over on top of that to ten thousand G. There would be nothing left of you to clean up."
"But...but you won't, traitor...I know that you aren't trying to kill me. You're just keeping me restrained here until your reinforcements can arrive…weak-hearted fool..."
Welt said nothing and continued concentrating on sustaining the gravity field. He couldn't keep it up for much longer. Using the Star of Eden exacted a heavy toll on his own body, even more so now that he lacked the powers of Reason. Already, he bled from his mouth and struggled to stand upright. But he wouldn't concede defeat over something as little as this.
He heard laughter. His bespectacled eyes widened, but it was too late.
Welt yelled out in pain as a razor-sharp lance erupted through his chest and out of his back. He fell to his knees as copious volumes of blood poured out of the wound and onto the floor. The gravity field ceased, and the captain stood up and laughed even louder.
"Even gravity has no effect over the powers of the Void, traitor. Now die."
The captain created another subspace lance and prepared to finish Welt off. Suddenly, he felt a golden chain wrap around his arm and force it downwards, making him drop the lance, which vanished as it fell to the floor. More chains wrapped around his legs and arms, immobilizing him. He screamed with frustration.
"Stop, captain!"
He recognized this voice. It was one from his previous life.
A short, silver-haired girl dressed in a bright blue battlesuit and wielding a large golden cross out of which the golden chains emerged ran towards them. She was accompanied by a blue-haired girl carrying a large scythe behind her and two identical twin sisters with horns and tails. The three of them were crying.
"Please stop, captain! You aren't like this!" the scythe-wielding girl and her sisters pleaded.
The captain knew that the balance of power had shifted. He knew the danger these chains represented. They could drain him of his power. And they had restrained him once before. That blonde-haired bastard…
The hatred and rage for that man gave him renewed strength. But he had business elsewhere. These vermin could wait.
A dark portal with a golden rim enveloped him, and in an instant, he was gone, the chains that had bound him falling to the floor.
Theresa, Seele, Rozaliya, and Liliya stood still, knowing that they were too late. But there was still one thing they could do. They ran over to Welt, who had long fallen into unconsciousness. Without immediate medical attention, he would not have long to live. They nodded to each other, picked him up, and began carrying him to the medical area of the compound.
...
Are you alright, little captain?
He stood in his personal pocket dimension that he had created and retreated into. No one else could reach him here.
"I am. That man never had a chance. But those chains...the Oath of Judah. I'm sorry, my queen. I've failed you."
The Oath of Judah was able to kill me once before. You have nothing to be ashamed of, and you have failed at nothing. After all, you're still here with me, safe and sound.
He closed his eyes and nodded.
You know what you must do now, don't you?
"Yes, my queen. Your true form is currently fighting your inferior half, Kiana Kaslana, inside the Gem of Haste, which is currently held by the Herrscher of Domination in the Theatre of Domination that they created. I need to enter it and help you kill her once and for all."
Very good, little captain. It shames me to be even mentioned with those headless puppets. They are vermin and undeserving of the title of 'Herrscher', but even so, they have their uses, which was enough to bring Kiana before me.
He felt her warm hand resting on his shoulder and her soft voice whispering into his ear.
And after we finish there, it's high time that you exacted your - no, our revenge on that man Otto Apocalypse, yes? You would want nothing less for what he did to both of us...
He nodded. He felt his rage flare up at the very mention of his name.
Shall we go then, little captain?
...
Kiana cried out in pain as the Herrscher of the Void sent her crashing to the ground. She barely managed to roll to the side as a subspace lance impaled the floor where she had just been lying on.
She and her other half had had a civil discussion for a time. She had done everything to try to convince her of her feelings and motivations. She had tried to show her the light, but she had refused to listen.
It was a surprise to neither of them that the solution to their fundamental disagreement was simply to fight it out and see who the last woman standing was. Right now, it seemed that Sirin would. Her flowing, silvery hair rippled like a storm as she spun around and evaded each one of her lesser half's futile attacks, and her golden eyes showed nothing but amusement at their one-sided battle.
But wasn't she Sirin herself? She was and she wasn't. She may have been born from Sirin's consciousness, but she had grown into the name of Kiana Kaslana, the daughter of Siegfried Kaslana and Cecilia Schariac. She was fighting for all that was beautiful in the world.
But right now, she was barely able to fight for her own survival. Sirin was too strong, and Kiana was too weak. She had never felt as terrified as she was at that moment.
Sirin laughed. "Had enough, little girl? You're only making this more painful for yourself by fighting me. You don't need to subject yourself through this torment. You can just lie down and die at my hand. I promise you that it will be quick...if not painless. I owe it to myself, after all."
"Never...I'll never give up…" she gasped as she lunged at her only to be tossed aside like a broken doll.
"As you wish. I'll end it quickly, then. I tire of this, anyways." She raised her lance and aimed it directly at her heart. She closed her eyes.
But nothing happened.
She forced herself to open her eyes again. And when she did, she was shocked.
"Ah, our guest has finally arrived. Welcome, little captain."
Kiana didn't know what she was seeing.
"Cap...captain…? Why are you here?"
He had emerged from a void portal behind them. He stared at her, his face devoid of emotion.
"Because my queen asked it of me."
He walked forward and lowered himself onto one knee before her. She smiled. She reached down and patted his hair.
"No...no, this can't be happening...let him go, Sirin!"
"And why should I? Would you let go of those you love just because another asks you to?"
"L...love? What are you talking about, Sirin?!"
"You didn't realize? As much as I hate to admit it, I am you, and you are me. The love you felt for your captain that night was also my own, and I expressed it in my own way. A human like you could never understand."
She painfully stood to her feet. She gripped her own lance, which seemed pitiful in comparison to Sirin's.
"Why did you bring him here, Sirin?" she asked. She had to know before she died.
She laughed. "Wouldn't it be fitting for the man who loves us both to finally make a choice for himself? After all, there can only be one Sirin, and our captain can only be with one of us."
Her heterochromatic eyes widened with horror. She couldn't believe this was happening.
"Little captain, look. You see the two of us standing before you. We are both Sirin, but one of us will live today and one of us will die. Who will it be? The choice is yours…" Sirin cooed to him as she caressed his hair.
He stood up. He glanced between them for only a moment before looking directly into Sirin's eyes.
"You, my queen."
He lunged at her.
She sobbed with despair as he launched a lance at her, which she blocked with her own. But he was far from finished. He made a fist and struck her in the face, sending her crashing to the ground. He nearly impaled her with another lance, but she lashed out with her feet and kicked him away.
"CAPTAIN! IT'S ME! IT'S KIANA!" she cried out, blood streaming from her injured nose.
"Kiana? There's no such thing as 'Kiana'. You're just an imposter pretending to be my queen. For that, you must die."
He lashed out with his fists, expertly utilizing all his martial arts and hand to hand combat skill, enhanced by his newfound strength and speed. His arms were only a blur as he assaulted Kiana repeatedly, forcing her back with each blow. She barely managed to block his attacks, and she was so distraught that she almost did not want to.
"PLEASE STOP THIS, CAPTAIN!" she screamed, teardrops flying from her eyes as she evaded his attack and managed to sweep his legs out from beneath him with her lance, tripping him to the floor. She tried to knock him unconscious with a kick to his head, but he moved his head out of the way before grabbing her foot and dragging her to the floor with him. He overpowered her by forcing himself on top of her, trapping her beneath his weight. His hands found Kiana's throat. He began squeezing as hard as he could, slowly crushing the life out of her.
Sirin observed them with approval.
"Very good, little captain. You've learned to control your powers at an impressive rate."
Tears blurred Kiana's vision. Tears of both pain and despair. The only thing she could see was the colour of her captain's bright red hair in front of her. She had always thought that his hair was beautiful. She had never worked up the courage to admit it to him. In her confused and oxygen-deprived thoughts, it reminded her of... her.
"C...cap...tain…" she barely managed to choke out, his grasp on her throat severely restricting the amount of air she could receive.
"Finish it, little captain. Once she's gone, nothing can prevent us from forever being safe and sound with each other at the end of the world."
Stars dotted her vision, and she felt herself becoming weaker and weaker.
Strangely, she felt no more pain. Only acceptance. And peace.
In a way, she was glad that she could spend the final moments of her life with the captain who she loved so much.
Her vision grew darker and darker, and her eyes closed as she welcomed the relief from the pain of living.
She thought that she would feel nothing. But she felt something different. The smallest sliver of hope. Love. She didn't know what this was.
Kiana...don't forget about...my last lesson.
Aunt...H…
Now isn't your time, Kiana...and it isn't his, either…
She understood. With renewed strength, she reached up and pried his hands apart to loosen his grip on her throat just enough so she could scream out as loudly as she could.
"CAPTAIN! THIS ISN'T WHAT HIMEKO WOULD HAVE WANTED! REMEMBER HER LAST LESSON!"
He froze. He loosened his grip on her neck.
Why did this imposter's words have such a strong effect on him? Who was she?
"H...H...Hime...ko…"
"HIMEKO LOVED YOU, CAPTAIN! SHE WANTED ME TO KEEP FIGHTING ON FOR YOU, TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE FOR YOU AFTER SHE WAS GONE! SHE WANTED ME TO FIGHT FOR EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL IN THIS WORLD! YOU'RE THE BEAUTY IN MY WORLD, CAPTAIN, AND I'M THE BEAUTY IN YOURS!"
Sirin didn't know what was going on.
"Why did you stop, little captain? Ignore her and end it once and for all!"
"N...no…"
He found that he had released his grip on Kiana's neck, and he was helping her stand back up. Why? Why was he doing this? Why was he going against his queen's wishes?
Kill her! Kill her, captain! Your queen demands it!
Kiana, still painfully choking for breath, held his confused, tortured face in her hands. She gazed into his pain-filled eyes and kissed him with more passion than she had ever kissed anyone before.
Sirin screamed inside his mind. She felt her hold over him dying by the second.
The other Sirin yelled out with frustration.
"It looks like I need to end this myself. No matter." She launched a lance at Kiana, but the captain teleported both of them a safe distance away.
His face was an expression of pure horror.
"Kiana...I…I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry, Himeko..." he managed to say, tears of pain and regret streaming from his eyes, not knowing what was happening to him.
"It's okay, captain...I'm right here, and so is Himeko...look, captain. Can you feel her? She's right here with us. She's still watching over us, and she's entrusted the gem to me."
Sirin opened up dozens of portals and launched a barrage of lances at them, but he opened a portal in front of them to redirect them back at her, which she dodged.
"You dare raise a hand against your queen, little captain? After this, I'll need to make you love me again. You won't take him away from me, Kiana!" she screamed.
But Kiana didn't care what she said anymore. She had been entrusted with Himeko's passionate flames. Her battlesuit transformed into one as bright as the flames of the sun, and in her hand, she wielded a burning greatsword that radiated with all the powers of the Vermillion Knight. She smiled at him.
"We can do this, captain. Together. You're with me, and I'm with you. What do we have to be scared of?"
He smiled back. He squeezed her hand.
They were together again. Safe and sound.
...
The world...changed.
They stood in a nearly colourless world of white and blue. Large buildings emerged in front of them. They were strangely familiar and welcoming.
Gentle white particles fell like snow around them as he and Kiana stepped forward, hand in hand. He knew this place. They both knew where they were.
The square of St. Freya Academy revealed itself to them. This had been their home once. It had been destroyed, but the memories they made and cherished here would stay with them forever.
They knew that this was not truly St. Freya. These were only memories of it. But they did not care.
They looked around, taking in all the familiar sights and locations. The places they had seen so many times before and missed so much.
As they walked together, they noticed a woman standing far away in the distance, facing away from them.
She was a bright point of red in an otherwise colourless world, and they noticed themselves gradually walking faster as they drew closer to her. Soon, they were running.
The woman turned around to face them. She was clad in an elegant red battlesuit, one capable of slaying a god.
She had been waiting for them for so long. She was happy that they were here with her.
She closed her eyes and smiled.