"...all forces are to stand back. Place charges on bottom floors and wait for further instructions unless the Herrscher is leaving the building."

He ignored the affirmations of the orders to look at his target.

"...Kevin...?"

He ignored the familiar voice coming from his comms on a private line to stare with conflict obvious in his eyes. Because of the Sixth Eruption's location, none of the great warriors of the MOTHs were here except for him, and Elysia was still too far away despite being on her way. Against this Herrscher, the ordinary soldiers of Fire Moth weren't likely to survive.

The herrscher's ascension has already created a disaster, but the target herself had yet to go on a rampage, but if she did, then Kevin knew he would be forced to do what was necessary for the sake of limiting casualties. If there was a good thing that came from being alone, it was that it meant he only needed to risk himself, and by now he had a fair degree of confidence in his ability to live through a battle half heartedly even against a Herrscher.

The Herrscher was gripping her face, eyes peeking out with wild tears. Her eyes were filled with anger, guilt, confusion, pain.

"-Guh! Hah! Rrrr!" She growled and moaned in distress.

She was different from the other Herrschers. It was noticeable from the start. They were like killing machines. Silent and always moving to kill. With her, it was almost easy to forget who she was. Their battle, if it could be called that, was not particularly difficult. She was wild, and needed to make him bleed with a scythe to use her powers. Even the him from before becoming a soldier could have dodged those telegraphed blows.

"-Kevin? What's going on!?" Mei tried to get answers hastily. For her, out of nowhere, Kevin had suddenly sprouted orders that didn't make sense. "What's the situation?! Have you noticed something?!"

"...In a sense. The Sixth isn't acting like the others. She still feels...human, in a way."

"What are you saying all of sudden!"

The target's eyes began to focus on him and he laid the gun on the ground.

Even he thought he thought this was foolish and a failure waiting to happen, but he also thought it was worth finding out more. "I'm gonna try something. Don't send in any soldiers, they won't stand a chance against this herrscher's abilities, and I need my complete attention on her."

"Kevin what are you doing!? Just eliminate the Herrscher and don't do anything unnecessary!" Despite the order, a worried tone could be deciphered within it. He knew that for all the cold decisions she's made, the woman did not make them lightly. She was a genius who could even calculate how many Herrschers they needed to defeat. Until he learned to fight, the most he used his brains for was on seducing girls. There was a league of differences between them. She would never risk his well being on the off chance something, anything, miraculous would happen.

Even so, against this young girl who looked so alone, he couldn't help but feel the need to save her, whatever may come later. The once free spirited boy was now a true warrior, but his heart had yet to harden, what was possible and what was necessary were not in conflict just yet.

It had been a long time since he had used his sweet talking skills, but if there was ever a time to dust them off and use them to their full effectiveness, it would be now. Granted, flirting and calming a girl down were two completely different things, but to an extent, shared certain "principles" that made doing them easier, namely paying attention their responses and emotional wavelength.

He took a knee in front of the girl, but didn't make physical contact. He looked her in eyes and, for the first time in what felt like forever, wore his heart on his sleeve to someone that wasn't Mei.

"Can you still hear my words?"

"Uuuu...o-ou-..." the girl gasped out in pain and affirmation.

"I'm Kevin, will you give me your name?" He said softly. One of her eyes were red, but both still held untold fear. Both for him and of him, he thought.

"S-Se...eele..."

"I want to help you, but I don't know what's going on with you either...if you can tell me anything, I'll do what I can if you think it will help you feel better."

"The voice...hurts...it tells me...to kill..." she closed her red eye pressed a hand against her chest as she breathed deeply.

Kevin laid his gloved hand on hers. "But you don't want to listen to it do you? You don't have to do anything like that. You have kind eyes and a good face."

"I don't...like other people...but...I don't want to...hurt them..."

He tried to get the facts together from what was available at the moment. The girl had a downtrodden air about her, besides the pain. The quick brief from Mei told him that she was the daughter of some aristocrat or something close enough, and apparently the red eye was natural, or at least had been on her before this incident. People of their standing were generally traditional and had specific standards they wanted reached. She had some bruises over her that did not look like they came from battle nor could they have when he was the first soldier on the scene.

"Will you be fine telling me when you heard this voice?" He squeezed her hand gently, before lifting it up and holding it atop his other hand. She put her other hand down to look him in the eye.

"A long time ago...a voice like...my heart...it told me to hurt...them back..."

That both complicated and simplified things. On one hand, that she was able to ignore this "voice" for so long meant that it was possible to pacify her. On the other hand, it made actually doing so sound like a challenge.

"That voice only wants ruin. For you and others. If you can come with me. I'll help bandage you and keep you safe." Truthfully, he was worried about how Mobius and Mei would react to the girl if he showed up with her. Not to mention everyone else in FireMoth. Both the soldiers and the pencil pushing higher ups. While he was sure that Mei wouldn't do too much to the girl once she saw her in control, he had every reason to still worry about Mobius studying her overall condition and that stigmata on the girl's chest.

"But...how can I...trust you...when they...always lied..." the hand within his palms began to tighten. "I...just want...to be alone...!"

A deadly looking scythe appeared in her other hand and with tears, moved to slice him with the heavy pole arm. Instantly, he knocked it back and gave her a hug.

"Eh...?"

"It isn't easy being around other people is it? They don't understand you, and push you around and says things that aren't true."

Those words didn't come from the heart. Not really. Despite his white hair, Kevin had always been relatively popular. But Mei was another story. She was a loner with high intelligence and a Dream. Since joining the Moths, she'd admitted to him certain experiences and how distant it felt to their current conflict, and how she would even prefer going through that their whole life if it meant the Honkai not existing.

"I can't make you trust me, but I'd like it if you took a risk in having faith in me. Even if I'm a stranger, it just means I have to prove I'm worthy of your trust, right? I'm one of the strongest people on this planet. Nobody will be hurting you as long as I'm around."

"Will you really...stay with me...onii-chan...? Even...though I'm a...monster?"

He was strongly reminded of Mei with that question. She didn't think that Kevin would accept the sins she had, and that would need to be done by her hand. But Kevin believed in her, regardless of her actions, that would never change.

"I won't always be by your side, but you won't feel this loneliness anymore. I'll introduce you to people who will accept you. I'll show you not everyone is horrible, and that life is plenty fun." He released the hug and rubbed her head with a smile. "You called me onii-chan didn't you? So why not take my name if you want? Seele Kaslana isn't so horrible is it?"

More tears came out from her, but this time, she smiled. "Kevin-onii-chan is really kind...I thinks if it's you...I can face life or death..." she moved to take his hand and shakily stood up.

As disturbing as it may have been to hear a girl say she was willing to die by his hand, it mostly relieved him. Not of guilt, there was no chance he would forget any sin he made, but it did tell him she was resolved to face her fate. Really, it just gave him more resolve to help her, after all, she even said that she would do her best to live with his encouragement, and if he ignored the fact that she probably had the power to kill every human on this planet, it would only be natural for him to support her.

"How's the voice making you feel right now? Need anything other than bandages?"

Seele shook her head and used her wrist to wipe her face. "It's not saying anything anymore but...I think it's still there..."

That told him...well, he couldn't be sure what it told him, but it did raise the possibility that whatever turned this girl into a Herrscher failed to do so completely, and just like how she ignored it for years, it was possible her mental state dictated how easy or hard that fight was. Deep down, he even wondered if that was the case with the others as well. Did they still have emotions? Were they in control when they chose to kill thousands with their own hands and not as by a side effect? Seele had been the one to cause the eruption, as opposed to it being the other way around, but the only direct deaths by her hand was that of her own family.

He internally shook his head. It didn't matter what those Herrschers may have been. They were dead, rightfully so when their rampages were much larger and destructive than Seele's. It was closer to a honkai outbreak than an actual Eruption and Herrscher attack.

"Are you ready to leave Seele? Come hop on my back, I'll have to get you out of here quickly and without anyone seeing you, so it's easier if I carry you."

"Y-yes!" She nodded her puffy eyes and wrapped her skinny arms around him.

"This'll get bumpy, so hold tight!"

He summoned the white 7th Prototype Key, also called the Sacred Key, to his arm and slammed it into the ground, the force of the blow shattering past several floors and the support pillars of the building as he jumped into the next building through a broken wall.

He opened his comms up to the leader in charge of the squad that came, having it loud enough for Seele to hear. "Murata, the Herrscher has been subjugated. Take down the charges. Follow regulation and deal with the remaining beasts and rescue any potential survivors."

An icy tone replied, different from the usual way of speaking. "...Yes sir."

"I'll be taking my personal transportation to HQ to bring the target's body back as soon as possible. Reinforcements will relieve you soon." His voice came out harsher than when he spoke to Seele. He learned that the Moths had an easier time listening to him if he spoke so bluntly and forcefully. He needed to do what he could to hide his actions.

"...so you really did kill her then."

"An enemy is an enemy Murata. I thought you would understand better than me as a Captain of your experience. Had you fought her with your squad, none of you would have stood a chance." He let the comms go silent as he jumped onto another building, tapping Seele's arm to show he didn't mean anything bad by what he said. She simply muttered to him, "It's okay Onii-chan."

"Squad V is heading out Kaslana-san." The red haired woman said reluctantly. Truthfully, he was surprised by what seemed to be her dislike of what should have really happened. Squad V as well as him had been in the best position to act quickly. There were no other squads that came with them. He hadn't thought this at the time, and neither had she, but it seemed that the knowledge of how young the Herrscher was had changed her mind.

Turning off his comms again, he ignored the beeping that signaled Mei's attempts of communication. This wasn't something to talk about over comms. Casually, he pulled out his sword to swipe the aerial Honkai beasts that tried to crash into them.

"Onii-chan really is strong...jumping on all these buildings so easily...and even fighting at the same time." He landed on a new building and held her legs to get a running start this time. "Uwaa...I never thought I'd feel the wind like this..." He smiled, but didn't respond. From the quiet tone, it seemed like she was talking aloud and enjoying the air more than anything else.

Which was good and bad. Thankfully, it meant he could prepare for Mei. Unfortunately, he had nothing to distract him from the incoming argument.

'Guess it'll be separate rooms tonight.' He sighed internally.

Kevin landed the small transportation airship in a mountain region nearby. He led Seele into a small house hidden by the the trees and walls. One story, but large enough for a handful of people to live in. Apparently Mei and her father had these getaway cabins all over the world, only shared between the family. Though he was let in on them as well back when he and Mei joined Moth and were relatively skeptical of the organization and the Honkai.

He handed Seele a small emblem. "If you're ever in danger, press that device. It'll let me know to rush over to save you from any danger." The emblem was one of the spares he asked Mei to create, between just them. Mostly for the peace of mind that came from knowing that if Mei ever wanted him or needed him nearby, he would know in a heartbeat.

Speaking of...

"Seele, why don't you head into the shower and clean yourself of all...that. I'll lay out some extra clothes for you." He resisted the urge to gesture to some of the blood and flakes that didn't belong to her.

"Mhm. Thank you onii-chan. Um, I know how to cook, so if there's a time where I can, I'd like to cook for you in return." For a brief second, he considered telling her about how he could only cook under supervision because otherwise the results had a tendency to go off hand somehow, before realizing that Mei was absolutely nearby.

"I doubt there are any ingredients here, but I'll go take a look while you clean up." He nudged her out the kitchen/living room, just in time as he caught a hum of another ship and hoped Mei came alone. If Elysia or Mobius came along, he didn't know what he would do next.

"Kevin!" The open door was pushed open quickly as Mei took in his uninjured appearance. Her eyes softened in relief before tackling him in a hug. "You-! What on earth were you thinking taking a Herrscher alone!" She took his cheeks with her hands and softly rubbed them, before pulling him into a kiss. Then she roughly pulled back, disregarding the taste of battle. "You scared me with those orders."

"I was thinking that none of those soldiers could have gotten into that fight and not get a single scratch. But I'm sorry."

Her eyes furrowed. "Was that part of the Herrscher's powers? To worsen others' conditions by accessing their internal systems."

"Maybe we should...leave that for later first." He put that aside for the more pressing topic.

"Kevin?" Her thumbs stopped caressing him as she looked at his eyes. His face reminded her of the times in the past he realized that there was a very real possibility of her getting honestly angry at him. "What did you do?"

"...I told you the Herrscher wasn't normal."

"...I heard that you eliminated the Herrscher..." She took her hands off him and stared him in the eye.

"...I couldn't. No, I didn't want to." He corrected himself. He had never truly discounted the possibly that he might have to kill Seele. "I hesitated because the Sixth held human emotions."

"It...did? Are you sure about that? And why did it lead you to come here?" The connections were coming to her fast, but the absurdity behind what he's done were still beyond what she would have considered an option.

"It could...she could, speak." He said simply.

"..." Mei put a hand on her chin and tried to analyze this information second hand before his words were fully realized in her head. "Kevin...don't tell me you..."

"She's in the bathroom right now." He put it out there quickly, not seeing the point in trying to hide it. There was no real easy way to break the news.

"What!? Why did you-!? No, rather why would you risk yourself for a Herrscher!?" Her eyes glimmered and she gripped him as hard as her unathletic hands could.

"It's like I said. She wasn't like the others. We were able to talk, she had emotions, it was like facing another human rather than a beast in human skin."

"Kevin. You aren't answering my question. What were you thinking risking yourself for a Herrscher!? I could understand fighting alone to limit casualties and to keep you from needing to split your focus, but-!" She couldn't resist the urge to shout. The fact that the Herrscher was different would have normally struck her scientific fancy, with all the different possibilities it held, but in this case, it was far from her mind.

The reason being?

Because he was in danger. Already Mei was incapable of doing anything for him other than giving him weapons. She pulled him into this fight, and every time he was sent to battle she had the fear that he would never come back.

To her, she was essentially told that Kevin stood in front of a bullet train and waited until it was within spitting distance to jump out of the way.

"I believed in my skills to keep me alive. The harder part was calming her down but...it seemed to me like she wanted someone to help her."

"You just risked yourself for that!? What if she kept fighting? What if she reverts again!?" She didn't stop airing her disapproval. She knew, intuitively, that this was important in different kinds of ways. If a life could be saved so simply, then why not? The idea of a Herrscher returning to human has potential, even if it possibly meant not obtaining their core.

"If she kept fighting, I simply needed to not go down until she stopped herself, as for the possibility that she reverts...that's another reason I want your help."

Hearing him ask for her help calmed her, but only in the slightest as her voice was clearly raised. "What is it you were thinking Kevin? Did you think we could just hide her here?"

"I was thinking that we either hide her with us as long as possible or figure out a way to keep her from getting executed." He crossed his arms and didn't remove the grip on his shoulders. "Just meet with her before you make any conclusions, okay? I think you'd really like her."

"...I have to make a call to Elysia since we were supposed to meet up. She might get suspicious otherwise." She let go of him and walked out.

He closed his eyes and sighed. That...went better than expected if he was being entirely honest. But she technically didn't agree to anything just yet.

"Kevin-onii-chan?" A voice popped out from behind. Seele's head slipped out of the doorway and he realized she completely eavesdropped instead of showering. "I'm...I'm sorry to cause you trouble with your girlfriend..."

He gave her a weak smile. "I don't regret saving you Seele. Besides, Mei is a good woman, I promise. She just cares a lot for me."

"If it's not easy for me to keep around..." she trailed off, but both of them knew where she was going with that sentence.

"A lot of things in life aren't easy Seele. But it's the beautiful things that keep us going." His eyes trailed over to the open front door. "No matter what."

Honestly! That pig headed, idiot, reckless man! Did he even care that she practically had a heart attack hearing he would confront the Herrscher alone? He owed her for convincing Elysia that she wanted alone time with him after a Herrscher incident. Not that she would actually give him anything even if she wasn't going to be busy keeping his new Herrscher friend alive.

If only it were easy to stay mad at him for taking such risks. She had long since realized, along with everyone else in the Moths, that Kevin, as normal as his life was before joining, was an extremely good soldier, no, a warrior rather. Beasts that outnumbered, outclassed, and outsized him, did little more than make him bleed. The risks that ordinary soldiers would take and fail, he would succeed to make another one.

Only three years into learning how to fight, and he was already becoming Humanity's strongest weapon against the Honkai.

That carefree, lovestruck pest of a prince that followed her around had changed into a friendless, hardened man.

She couldn't exactly deny that after calling Elysia, she realized felt relief at what Kevin had done, not just in his survival. Since joining Moth, he had interacted the bare minimum required with anyone else. It was as if the only thing that mattered to him was becoming stronger and...her. And for all that it warmed her heart to know he still liked her, it was as if that boy from school was another person entirely. But if he couldn't stop himself from helping a girl, and cared for her almost as much as he treasured Mei, then maybe he hadn't cast his heart and desires as much as she feared.

Seeing the young girl fidget in front of her even tugged at Mei's heartstrings, and she wasn't exactly new to making the hard calls. Kevin was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. It was a testament to how angry she also was that she didn't even look at him despite him coming back from battle. Usually she preferred to keep him within her eyesight and would have him follow her around for a time.

"Erm...Kevin-onii-chan...said it was okay to call you Mei-onee-chan...is it really okay or...?" The girl, Seele awkwardly asked. Mei immediately swung her head to look at Kevin who had a little smirk as if he played a good joke, startling her with something she hasn't seen since their school days.

"I...yes, it's okay Seele-chan. After what you told me, I don't blame you for anything like Kevin. I'll do what I can to keep you safe, but to do that I'd like it if you could do what you can to help me in order to convince our superiors when they find out."

Unfortunately, despite both her and Kevin's positions, they could only do so much. It would be simpler for them to keep Seele's identity under wraps and convince anyone who does find out to help keep it a secret. Mobius in particular would be easy to convince. The harder part was making sure she didn't start cutting open and experimenting on Seele, but Mei had faith that Klein and her, and even the other scientists like Einstein and Tesla would be able to keep her from trying to go that far. Besides, Mobius was smart, and she also knew better than to attract Kevin's ire and be on his bad side.

"I- I get it! I'll do whatever I can!" The young girl nodded quickly.

Mei tried to give a comforting smile at the girl, but unlike Kevin she wasn't particularly practiced at doing that. "Well, to start, the other Herrschers held cores within them that fueled them, do you have anything similar?"

"A core? Core..." Seele gave the question a deep thought and closed her eyes. "I think I feel something that wasn't there beforehand...I might be able to take it if you want."

Mei thought it over before shaking her head. "No, it's fine for now. This isn't the best place to find out or test anything. While you don't give off the energy of a Herrscher, that might change if you try to pull out the core."

Seele opened her eyes with nod. Seeing the obedient girl reminded Mei of a time when she was even younger and eager to please her parents.

"Seele, if you're fine with it, you can come with me to where Kevin and I currently live. It's a base for the organization we work for, but we can get you the proper authorization as my assistant. Kevin will still have a fight to finish, but he'll meet up with us as fast as possible."

Seele looked over to Kevin who gave a shrug, another thing she hasn't seen from him in so long. "It's up to you. I don't think my presence is that urgent, but if you're comfortable with Mei, I can take my airship back to the city."

"Umm. I'm fine with going with onee-chan."

Mei gave the girl another smile, hopefully it was less stiff this time around, and said, "Seele, why don't you head to my private airship already. There's a small refrigerator there with snacks, why don't you get something in that stomach of yours since I should talk to Kevin before we separate."

The girl nodded before standing up and hesitating. The two adults had a confused look at the blush on the girl's face before she moved to give Kevin a quick hug. "Um, be safe Onii-chan!" She quickly ran off after that, leaving the two to share a brief look of surprise that shifted into a smile, though his was much smaller.

Still, her smile faded as she stood up and he pushed off the wall.

"Then, Kevin-"

He walked by and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. We can leave most of the talk for later. It might be for the better if I return to the battlefield. The squad who was with me...I should be sure about what they might know."

She still pressed her lips together at hearing him talk about returning to the fight. He was right that it was a good idea, but she hated the thought of it no matter how logical of a decision it was. The reason was simple. Every battlefield Kevin entered was one where his reputation grew. He gained more and more respect from the soldiers to the ordinary personnel. She would not deny he was Humanity's Greatest Hero. She believed that from the bottom of her heart.

But she also wished with all her heart that she was the only one to do so. The hopes and burdens of humanity weighed on Kevin, no matter how much he said he fought for her alone.

"Don't interact with anyone more than necessary Kevin." She relayed to him an "order."

"Right. Oh, I almost forgot, when I calmed Seele down, I offered her my last name since she called me "onii", you should probably talk to her about that and see if we let her keep it that way or not. But I think she'll want, no, need, the support of a family name, whether it be yours or I."

She desperately tried to crush the irritation that some young girl was taking his family name before her, she was NOT going to be a irrational jealous schoolgirl. "I will. And Kevin?" She stopped him from leaving with a hand on his shoulder. No matter how angry she was, she never wanted their last sight of each other alive to be the other's back and arguing, especially when neither of them had a guarantee they would live long. "Come back to me."

He gave a soft smile that only she ever saw and cupped her cheek, and both ignored how she reddened. "Always brainiac." He leaned down to kiss her for the 21,901th time.