Solange… I saw his fist fly through the air. Something of which I've rarely ever seen in quite a while, actually. Only now did I see this again, a rather impressive feat of strength for someone who has no MANTIS genes or was a Herrscher or a Prigene.
Decimation came to my mind. But no, he was no Decimation. Too tame, not aggressive enough, and by no means being close to insanity. But does he have beef behind his blows? Surely. He managed to shatter the restraints of stone.
The fog in my head and my soul seeped thicker. To a Prigene, that's how the will of the Honkai manifests and takes control of their actions once more when they cannot channel it properly. Control of which I feel like I am losing and the sense of restraint I had before for years begins to fade once more. Leaving behind who we really were back then. A Herrscher's top servant and absolute shield from threats to their life. Yet, now without a master.
Then came Solange's strike. Everything began to proceed in slow motion in my head. My deteriorating ethics, morals, and everything, and the little sense of humanity my very being still has at this moment fighting it off like the knight that fights the dragon.
As if a Flame Chaser was attacking, it struck me hard. I couldn't help but feel the pain of his loss. A death that, if I remained as it was, I could've prevented. Not delay, but prevent entirely. My entire body flew several metres into the air. Neural signals overwhelmed too much to fly. More specifically, my bonds and links to the tree and the will.
I fear as I lose the battle and my own consciousness submits to the Honkai once again, an ancient force never seen since the times of the Previous Era will once again be unleashed on this world…
I couldn't control how my body landed. Flailing arms, legs, body, all the sorts into being as if I was a mangled puppet torn by a kid. Made worse once the impact scratched both asphalt and concrete. The last hit, fifteen seconds after this all started, caused my earring to fracture into pieces.
My self-contained energy began to swell to enormous proportions. My body moved on its own, powered by Herrscher-like instinct instead of logic and reason.
All of a sudden, a voice I knew spoke to me through telepathy.
"Lieanid… What's going on? Your energy's through the roof. Are you trying to cause an eruption?!" it was a male's voice.
"I wasn't, Libor… My restraining device had been forcibly broken! What's going to happen now…"
"Without extenuating intervention, you will lose your sense of self and the world will suffer. Without anyone who knows how to stop the madness of an unchained Prigene, we betray the promise to ourselves."
"...As insane as this is, only Helix can fix such a problem… So as much as we dislike the Flame Chasers in general…"
Then, the voice fades. Flashbacks throughout my entire life begin to play out in front of me. Those dating to the Previous Era; being granted the Prigenesis, the first kill I've ever done, the first city I helped destroy, the MOTHS finally bringing me to my knees, meeting the other Prigenes for the first time, and our battle with the Herrscher of the End…
Some more to the present, of which I couldn't reminiscence. I had a role to play in all of this. I start to stand up, facing the two male Valkyries. As my influence begins to warp the environment to the will of the Prigene of Reason, I speak. Mustering the last of my strength to say it.
"The tech to recreate it is lost… She must be found…"
With visions of the past few minutes ago, I continued.
"Luca… Solange… You must… Find… Vill-V…"
19 November 2016
Several Minutes Ago
Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece
I immediately forced myself to a wall away from the door as I saw how quickly their weaponry was able to shred through the material. Bullet holes and the roar; the oil and soon their black and gold uniforms and visors. The mark of Schicksal soon made me realise one thing about it.
The Immortal Blades, they are Schicksal's vanguard in the war against the Honkai. Why were they after me?! I didn't do anything until I came to tying up Luca, Solange, and their accomplice. Spreading my hands into a stance of some sort that Vicissitude would've done when pressed in a situation where there's a high, near-certain chance I would be attacked. Sweat dripping down my face as I expect what's to come next.
A few did turn to me, weapons off the safety and drawn; like they should have been. Returning back to the times when the MOTHS were after me after the Herrscher of Reason that I knew made her Prigene. The MOTHS and their guns and armoured vehicles and aircraft circling me into a dead end. Except for the fact in there were walls and no vehicles. Not that I expected them to have a chance against me.
"Who are you?" one of them asked, having a calm yet tense atmosphere about their shoulders and hands.
Her voice was calm too, with brown hair cut really short. She was a female, regardless of what I saw. Yet, before I was about to ask, another one, this one with hair dyed blue and green, rushed to them and shouted.
"WE FOUND TEAM LEADERS HAYES AND BALAKIN!"
So that's who they are… Team leaders of the Immortal Blades. They listen to them, but I have a question I need to answer, so I did.
"I'm just a normal person caught in the way. Would you two like a drink?"
I utilized my power, transmuting a pebble nearby into a golden goblet with exquisite goldwork. Shaking it to let off its pristineness, twenty-four-carat gold. Even though they saw me do that trick. Not that I expect it to work, I simply wanted a casual means to show I can probably beat them if I did it with something much, much more lethal.
Their heads shake no, and I wasn't going to force them to do so. Instead, the conversation came towards what I really wanted out of this. What I said to Luca and Solange before the situation as a whole blew over; was to get Jenna and Ezekiel free from Schicksal.
"Say, can I speak to your leader?"
Of course, like before, they rejected my want to do so. A shake of the head confirmed this, and I simply walked toward the first one. My words were still as collected as I had been, except for me letting out a deep chuckle.
"Two of my friends are in your Overseer's custody as we speak. And it seems they wish to speak to me."
They didn't buy it. But I didn't care, I leaned to her face and winked… Was she a lesbian or not? Maybe, but I didn't care. My point comes first than any affiliations.
"Your team leaders, of course, would really want one of them released. Why keep people captive? Why does he? Have any of you ever been to prison?"
"I-I haven't…"
"The prisons that you all know, they do not hold a candle to the prisons that kept me awake and in fear." I went on.
I wanted to show them how futile it is to keep to their superiority before I turn that to rout them out. My control device earring danging and striking my shoulder every now and again. At the same time, Schicksal's prisons were pathetic in comparison to those that the MOTHs had set up. Oftentimes with the sole purpose to keep the Prigenes contained and in their control.
If Ezekiel and Jenna really wanted to, they could use their abilities and flee. Yet, it would cause more problems than it solves, as a result. Especially now that almost every major anti-Honkai organisation would be learning we still live at this point. The remnants of what we knew as the World Serpent. As well as Schicksal and Anti-Entropy.
I simply drop the cup, turning it back to its original form after touching the ground. The clap got to one of their heads, as I saw her raise her gun. Springing into action, the barrel soon becomes crimpled like foil from the same hand that let it free. As I stopped playing around to get to the real business at hand. Especially as I come to see that they seemed to not be convinced.
Out of the three, one of them, the short, brown-haired girl charged toward me. I'd elbow her in the gut, knocking her air out and soon she went to her knees. There was no going back for me now.
The other two backed away and fired their weapons, which I easily disposed of using my abilities. Transmuting their bullets into an array of steel beams that attach themselves to the walls, the ceiling, and the floors. An environment neither friendly for projectile weaponry nor melee.
Their legs attempt to navigate the thin, let seemingly endless stream of them to get in their way. Only then, in the thick and with the swipe of my hand; my tactic reveals itself. The beams splinter, poking the group after me in them with crimson spewing from those spots.
"Perhaps now?" I asked as I walked around them somewhat, where I was met with another Valkyrie.
They attempted to charge at me with a melee weapon of some sort, likely a hammer. Something I didn't need to use my abilities to counter. Grasping ahold of the weapon and throwing it out the building.
"I only wish to talk. Like what humans do. But, is this the result? That is when the Will of Honkai, Herrschers, and the results that follow come into play. One that might as well be reasonable is treated like everyone else? A threat?"
I wasn't given any response, besides that they seem persistent to continue fighting. As, reluctantly, I had to do so. But, before I could go on, my instincts told me something was wrong near the door. Unaffiliated with the Immortal Blades, but something much more sinister. I couldn't pin the individual, but it
Then, I heard words mumbled into my head coming from there. "Z-four-two-eight…"
No… No one in this era knows such a thing… Except for the Overseer and his access to Void Archives. I'd feel as if the situation was starting to, admittingly, turn for the worse. The modulation in the vocals was also too suspicious for me to consider. Actually… Who would know that kind of voice would do the trick?
"Neutralize neural movement signals…"
I had to act fast before it took effect, sprinting through the door like my life depended on how fast I can run. And I could do it quickly. Enough to get into the streets before I felt a paralyzing sting throughout my body. Tumbling into another buildings' wall and bound to the surface.
"Cut off Prigenic Imaginary Tree link."
Compared to movement neutralization, cutting that off, even if temporarily, prevents me from using my powers, which rely on the Imaginary Tree, as with all Herrscher powers. All I could do was try and scoff it off, believing I could handle the punishment that was about the come without requiring access to Honkai energy.
They exit with Luca, Solange, and Phoibe in their possession, untied and ungagged. I spoke once more, laughing normally as I soon taunted them.
"I… Surrender-"
"Lieanid!" a voice appeared in my head, distress was the best word to describe it.
As I did, I could literally sniff the presence of other forces at play. A smaller airship's shadow slowly encroach and overtook the sun at the area we were at. I forced myself onto my back and gazed at the sight. I'd got the feeling it was to be the end if nothing was done about it.
"Make it quick, Ceron, they have an airship in the sky!"
Ceron was the Prigene of Domination. She also maintained telepathic links between us, allowing us to coordinate without having to meet up in person unless in certain circumstances… Including being able to track each of our links to the Imaginary Tree. Yet, in order to reply back, I'd need my own link, which I didn't have… Not that they'd understand what I mean anyway.
"I noticed your link was gone. Did someone found out the codes to the control devices?"
"Yes… And it seems like I'll be captured soon like Ezekiel and Jenna have."
"Ah… So someone's working against us."
"They already are. I suspect someone knows who we are and wants us down.."
"As it always has been."
"In this era and now, who we are hasn't changed… We only choose selectively to use it."
"And to have a fourth of all Prigenes imprisoned by Schicksal, I cannot allow you to also fall. Give me a moment."
"You're gonna force your energy onto me?"
"You should know like everyone else that I'm the only one with a Prigenesis at the moment while who knows where the others are!"
"I know, just do it already, Ceron!"
"You should feel it in a few seconds."
The ship soon went overhead, and I felt as if they were preparing to get everyone out of there… As I soon start to chuckle as I soon rose from the effect. There was nothing else I had to say, except for two more sentences. They asked for this, even though I had to indiscriminate, I cannot let them see that Luca and Solange were against their opinions.
"It seems you've fell for my tactic, but…" I lightly bring a small pebble into my hand. "You asked for this!"
I swap it between my palms, creating hundreds more and I disperse them across the area as I spread them open. Following that, my arms wered lowered as all the glass the projectiles shattered lit the area in the lights of blue and white. Like a conductor, I raised my invisible baton towards the ship, while my left swirls in a circular pattern.
What's next? DESTRUCTION! A twister of glass shards and projectiles punch all of the important areas accessed externally, blowing it out of the sky and crashing about ten to twelve kilometres from where we were from. Despite me having fun, I didn't want to kill anyone who was on the ground. But for sure, now they'll hate me. Not that I wasn't opposed to be treated as such by mister Apocalypse.
As I did so, I soon point my hand at the person who restrained me, impaled them several times. Then raised concrete restraints on all of them except for Phoibe, whom I rushed forward, grabbed, and then threw. Although I had to rush to stop them from being knocked unconscious then pinned them on the wall of the building. As I'd soon do, I decided to play darts.
After all that, it vanished, I felt myself going dark…
Present Time
Hokai infection lines soon enwrap Lieanid's body, yet he doesn't seem to have cascaded. Alongside a roaring scream, which had a double voice, similar to a Herrscher's. As soon, lines of blue and white, the colors of his powers when in use, spread into the environment. Buildings, asphalt, and concrete closest to Lieanid suddenly saw themselves forming into spears aimed straight at Solange.
"RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!" Luca shouts, forcing Solange onto his back as he'd sprint in the opposite direction.
Yet, in a flash, Lieanid flies several meters in front of them and simply hovers a slightly laxed position.
"Aha! Expected that!" Lieanid said, still having the double echoing voice.
"His eyes… They're moderately blue with white pupils… Herrscher eyes really…" Luca mumbles to Solange.
The spikes he prepared soon flew at Luca and Solange from behind.
"LUCA! HE'S TRYING TO KILL US!"
"Your will cannot supersede the will of the Pri-"
"HUA!"
Suddenly, a fuchsia-haired female drops from the sky. In a well-timed strike, separating Luca and Solange from Lieanid and distances Lieanid further.
"Now, let's get going! While she's distracting him!" Solange shouts.
"Right!"
Solange and Luca together make a run for it, as a battle begins to unfold between Lieanid and Fu Hua, enough that the force blacks them out moments after it begins…
Luca tries to call for Solange, yet could only feel the sound of healing fluid around his body. Did he suffer injuries so severe that he had to be put in a tube to be healed? The colors registering more green or purplish than a dark black.
Yet, he couldn't feel himself or anywhere. Besides occasional talk, including a voice or two he'd recognize.
End of Prologue: End of an Era
To be Continued in Act I: Chasing Flames