The bitterly cold water pressed against Mei. Her wet clothes didn't help as she swam through the partially submerged office. After reaching the ME lab building Mei had searched for a convenient entrance. Fortunately for her the sea water had risen to a point where it had smashed through the outer windows, flooding the offices within. All the furniture had long since degraded or had been washed out to sea. What remained were the dark lights hanging partially from the ceiling, the support pillars piercing the inky water and the sea-salt corroded air-vents. Puffing from the effort, Mei breast-stroked through the dim light and toward the dark elevator in the centre of the office. The metal doors, though heavily rusted, were still partially open. Bracing herself against the door frame, Mei slowly and with much cursing in several languages pulled the doors wide enough to permit entry. The elevator itself was submerged below at ground level. Pulling out a water-resistant penlight, Mei surveyed the scene. The elevator shaft was surprisingly intact, a service ladder reaching from rooftop to the depths of the water far below. Pinching the light between teeth, Mei slowly ascended the somewhat rusted ladder. Every few metres Mei checked what floor she was at.
It took ten minutes, but Mei finally reached the level that Amarant had determined was the location of the lab. Mei hopped off the ladder and onto a safety grill that ringed the shift. The first thing she did was check the radio. Turning it on and hearing the familiar chirp was a relief. The water resistance had held. Walking carefully, Mei got to the door and found the manual egress lever. Pulling hard on the lever, Mei heard the reassuring grind of metal and saw the doors slide open a few centimetres. It took a little more effort, but Mei pulled them apart enough to permit entry.
The corridor was unlit, plain lino floors and unadorned walls untouched by the post-apocalyptic world outside. Torch in hand, Mei walked down the corridor and toward a heavy looking door. Halfway down she felt all manner of sensor operating across the electromagnetic spectrum wash over her. Previously unseen cameras zoomed in, assessing her face, walking gait and irises. Bioelectric scanners, Honkai energy readers and Herrscher energy sensors all conducted their own digital assessment of the unknown intruder. The hairs on the back of Mei's neck prickled. She had the uncomfortable feeling that if this security test was failed the consequences were not pleasant. ME Corp didn't need to hide away automated turrets and other defences within the walls and ceiling. No doubt urban combat mechs waited silently in quantum space to be deployed at any notice.
'You really didn't trust anyone, did you Oto-sama?'
Mei lifted her hand to touch the heavy door, only for it to slide open and click into place. Stepping inside, Mei watched the door slide shut behind and self-lock. Fluorescent lights flickered to life for the first time in nearly three years. Mei blinked off the sudden glare. Once her eyes adjusted she was presented with a series of small offices, labs, machine shops and biomedical bays. Walking through the cold rooms, leaving damp footprints in her wake, was like taking a step into past only dimly remembered. Mei could feel something scrabbling against her thoughts. Looking at a chair brought up the palest of memories. Of a nurse taking her blood and asking if she was feeling dizzy.
"Suki," Mei whispered.
Another room with biomedical equipment conjured up the ghosts of a woman in slacks and a coat, serious eyes peering through heavy framed glasses.
"Makaria"
Guided by filmy recollections, Mei walked through one room after another, trying to make sense of everything. It looked as though the lab had once been a hub of bustling activity and research into the cutting edge. Mei walked into one room and felt herself drawn to a plate opposite a wall reinforced with plasma steel. Mimicking a long-lost pneumonic, Mei raised her left hand, fingers curled in a cylinder, and aimed it at the opposite wall. The ghostly sound of a thunderclap and a bar slamming into the reinforced wall shook Mei. She stumbled back and fell onto her rear.
"What the hell is going on?"
Heart racing faster, Mei was on her feet and rushing towards the source of all this discomfort. Waiting at the end of the hallway was another heavy door and a familiar girl. Mei approached the child cautiously. She was tall for her age, with long silky black hair, dressed in a creamy dress and sandals. Her crimson eyes with their vertical slit pupil watched Mei was barely disguised amusement.
"It took you long enough," her Twin taunted.
Mei slowed and looked down upon her Twin. The girl raised a dark eyebrow.
"Trying to intimidate me through height won't work. After all, it wouldn't work upon you now would it?"
"How are you here? We merged. We're the same person now."
"You merged with her. Not with me."
"That makes no sense. My Herrscher half is my Herrscher half."
"Since I am here, I will politely disagree."
"Just get out of my—"
[Would it be easier if I addressed you this way?]
Then Twin was gone. Mei swore and looked around.
'I don't have time to waste on this.'
Mei touched the door and waited for it to slide open. The room within was lit by the flicker of small lights attached to the Honkai reactors and the supercomputer banks on standby mode. Once inside the door hissed shut. Mei took out her penlight and switched it on. Nothing happened. Mei fumbled with the button several times. Nothing happened.
[You're the Herrscher of Lightning. Just give it a small jolt]
"Oh piss off," Mei growled.
[Such harsh language for a young lady. What would Ryoma-sama think?]
Mei gripped her head and sighed loudly. By now her eyes had adjusted to the gloom. All manner of technical equipment filled the room. Everything was centred and connected to the shape of a chair picked out in shadows.
[Where your story ends. And mine]
'So you do recall what happened.'
"Bit by bit."
Crimson eyes belonging to an inky black child looked up from the chair. Mei reached out to banish the phantom, only to come in contact with the dress. It felt real enough that she ran the texture of the cloth between fingers. The child gripped Mei's wrist with warm hands.
"So do you prefer me inside your head or projected out here?"
"This is a delusion manifest by my own mind. That is why I can feel and sense everything about you. I'm likely standing just inside the entrance, eyes out of focus and mouth drooling as you draw me into the glamour."
[Not exactly]
"So then what are you?"
The shadow shrugged. The amusement in those crimson eyes didn't waver.
"The Honkai's first attempt at corrupting you. You were quite young to become a Herrscher. Then again the 2nd of this Era and the 12th of the Previous Era weren't much older."
Mei pressed a finger against her temple.
"How do you even know that?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe it is history encoded into your Stigma. Genetic memory. Maybe exposure to all those soulium fragments that Ryoma-sama collected. Or perhaps if the Honkai knows then I do. It doesn't really matter. All that does matter is that you are here."
"As I previously stated, I merged with you."
"That Herrscher self was created the moment you became a Herrscher. The successful one. We're both twisted mirrors of your mind. Just at different points. Your father used this comfy little chair I'm seated on to shred me at the genetic, Honkai and Herrscher level."
Mei ran her fingers over the metal chair. Each fingertip stroking the cold metal evoked more fragments of the past. Dipping her fingers into that cold water let her reminisce over treasured and painful times.
"Oto-sama was wrong to take these from me."
[If Ryoma-sama hadn't then I wouldn't have disappeared] was the reply from the now empty seat.
"So why you? Why now?"
Without thinking Mei turned and slumped into the chair. In the dim light Mei saw the ghosts of three scientists and her father working away at their plan. A plan to sever a Herrscher from their power and from the Stigma without killing them or worse. Her Twin walked out of the shadows and climbed onto Mei's lap. Mei hugged the girl and rested her chin upon the child's head.
"You're a little damp," her Twin observed.
Mei growled and ignored the jibe. She had more important things on her mind.
"What are you hiding, Oto-sama?" both women said.
Lighting around the chair flickered to life. The Honkai reactors, previously on low-power mode, hummed into life. Holograms manifested around Mei: charts, text, graphs and timelines. It was a ponderous and intimidating amount of information. One pulsing window caught Mei's eye. She reached out and activated the haptic interface. The window expanded, bold words scrolling down rapidly:
Valuka
Stigma
Arc
Ember
Soulium
12 Divine Keys
Lost 13th Herrscher
Temple of Selene
Moonlight Throne
Void Beacon
Selene Battleship
Herrscher of the End
Pioneers
Kallen Kaslana
Failure of Kaslana Line
Imaginary Tree
Quantum Bubbles
Mei's enhanced senses let her pick out the waves of text that fell. Much of it was unfamiliar or barely comprehensible. The Herrscher and her Twin wondered just what was happening. Finally, the symbols and text ended.
"What was he up to?" the Twin asked in a quiet voice.
"Let us both find out."
Mei tapped a hovering document and opened its contents. Both pairs of eyes scanned through it with inhuman speed.
08:51
Amarant paced back and forth. Kiana lay insensate atop the sleeping bag, tossing fitfully and panting. Even after being stripped to her undergarment sweat still soaked her body. The feeling of helplessness was one Amarant had no desire to feel again. She had been down this road before. With these people before. Coming to a halt, the woman pulled out her phone and activated the emergency distress pulse. There wasn't any need to overload the circuits. After finishing off her promise Amarant started busily searching through the various databases she had archived away.
08:58
Nothing in the list looked viable. She lacked the resources and those skilled enough to assist.
09:06
Schicksal would not share the Holy Blood serum formula. It required a direct Schariac descendant and Ana Schariac was on deployment in Coral City.
09:15
Amarant jammed the phone back in her pocket. It seemed Mei's plan was their last reasonable resort. She slipped into Australian briefly.
"Where the bloody hell are you, Raiden?"
Amarant knew that orthodox means of treating Kiana would be too late. It was time to try the unorthodox. Hissing through tight teeth, the guide stormed over to where she had stored the Jizo Mitama blade and snatched it up.
"You know this is the first time I've ever known for certain that it was right to get involved."
Marching back to Kiana, Amarant knelt and examined the dying girl. The Honkai burns had reached up most of her face. An earlier scan with her phone measured readings that would have been fatal to even the toughest of Valkyrja. Amarant had no illusions that it was the supreme will of Kiana that kept her going.
"What do you say we take a chance, child of the moon?"
Amarant gripped the 12th Divine Key in her hands and activated her administrative authority. The synchronisation with the soulium took more than usual. The key was of an unfamiliar design, it's form and function manifesting in the Current Era. But her backdoor access was absolute, built into the machine code of the nanomachines. Walls of complex code filled Amarant's mind. Traversing the sea of machine code was safe but took an inordinate amount of time. The instruction set for soulium was universal, allowing for incredible adaptability and flexibility. The raw nanomachines could even be repurposed if necessary. Amarant's mind contained innumerable instruction sequences. Only three people in the current Era could interpret the fields of raw data shifting about. Much to Amarant's frustration she was unable to pick out any broad sequences that met her needs.
'One more risk then.'
There was one section of opcode that Amarant knew well. Locating it, she activated the decompiler contained within it and instructed the program to locate the system reference file. Machine code was decompiled to Assembly code. Going up one level, Amarant carefully read through the instructions. Operating at this level was not without its dangers. Some of the Divine Keys contained intelligences. Echoes of the original Herrscher sentience repurposed toward a singular task: Destroy the Honkai. Amarant had no desire to draw the attention of a possible sentience and whatever backlash that might bring. She was aware of the origins of the Jizo Mitama and what it had once been. At the Assembly level familiar mnemonics flashed through her mind. Chasing down these instructions revealed sections of code and capabilities that surprised Amarant. The blade was not what she expected.
A presence brushed against her mind.
Amarant drew up her mental barriers. This was not the time to shirk away. Tracing a sequence of extended mnemonics opened a table's worth of novel architecture. Presentient algorithms and polymorphic code that fitted Amarant's needs.
The presence pushed against Amarant's awareness.
The decompiler was shut down, data wiped to null to prevent errant code breaking loose. Amarant disengaged her synchronisation. She recognised the presence for what it was. The experience had left her sweaty and shaking. Blood sugars had plummeted from the extended mental effort.
09:43
'No rest for the wicked just yet.'
Amarant placed the Jizo Mitama atop Kiana's right arm. The earlier code and relevant instructions she transmitted via touch and vocalised command.
"Awaken 12th Divine Key: Cradle of Nyoi-hōju."
The katana's structure shimmered before falling apart. Streams of metal in shades of black, red and brassy gold spilled over the limb. In moments, the Divine Key had reshaped itself. It's appearance was that of a black sode shoulder plate with red highlights, organic bars of brassy gold reaching up the shoulder to encircle the neck, more bars of red, black and gold running down Kiana's arm as though reinforcing it, ending at the wrist. A black yugake glove with red plates covered the woman's hand.
Amarant touched the Divine Key with soft fingers.
"I address you directly, child of this key, Higokumaru, wronged sister of the Previous Era and murdered 12th Herrscher. As you might corrupt so might you purify."
Warmth bubbled beneath Amarant's hands. At least she hadn't lost her hand.
Yet.
"This girl is the daughter of Schariac. She too was wronged by Schicksal. By the very same man. Let her vengeance be twinned with yours. Show her favour and I shall bestow upon you a favour. You know my voice and know that I honour all debts."
The heat flared for a moment before fading. Amarant very gingerly removed her hand. She wasn't dead. A good start. The Divine Key activated. Honkai energy was leached carefully from Kiana's body and into the blade, feeding its insatiable hunger. The Key had been made from the core of the Herrscher of Corruption. If Honkai energy could be used to corrupt, then so too could the corruption be extracted. As the Key worked Amarant stumbled over to a pot of cold rice and devoured it with bare hands. Her head hurt from so little sugar. A water bottle was snatched up, opened and the contents downed in one gulp. It did little for Amarant's present condition. She would probably throw up later. But she had arrested Kiana's failing health.
09:50
"Mei?" a hoarse voice whispered.
Amarant's eyes sprung open. She had fallen asleep slumped against a concrete pillar. Her mind was befuddled by sleep and hypoglycaemia. Blurred eyes fixed on Kiana. The girl was on her knees. The Jizo Mitama blade lay beside her.
"Where's Mei?" Kiana asked.
It took Amarant a few seconds to put together a coherent sentence.
"Looking through the lab. After you were knocked out, she dealt with Raven. We're waiting here for her."
Kiana's attention turned from Amarant and toward a fixed point outside the building. Amarant too looked in the direction of her attention. Something tickled her senses. A warning she did not like. It was faint but building quickly.
'I was so focussed on my plans I didn't even notice. That explains why the Serpent is here. Only he would be crazy enough to… oh shit.'
"Kiana. We need to wait for Mei."
Kiana was already on her feet and running toward the Honkai Eruption. Amarant got to one knee before collapsing in a heap. All she could do was see Kiana's form disappearing into the shadows. Heart pounding, Amarant did her desperate best to get up, crawling on all fours before falling to one side. In the distance she heard heavy wingbeats. Curses filled the air. Amarant crawled back to her camp and located the radio.
"Mei. MEI!"
"I'm currently entertaining guests."
"Kiana's gotten away from me. I think she's heading toward a Honkai Eruption."
"That had better be one of your very bad jokes."
"She woke up and ran."
"Why didn't you stop her! She's on death's door."
"Kiana seemed to recover and I didn't stop her because I'm not going to pick a fight with a dragon."
Second ticked by. The radio was silent. Amarant looked down at the tool. She knew there wouldn't be a response. Mei had a guest neither wanted and Kiana was let loose once again. She shuffled back to the rice bowl and continued eating. Cold miso awaited her too. Given an hour or so the woman would be back on her feet. She glanced over at the Jizo Mitama. Had she done the right thing?
'He was busy.'
[He really was quite busy]
Mei and her Twin had been going through the old records for nearly an hour. Raiden Ryoma had anticipated his daughter's eventual return and built the database and holographic projector into the seat. Everything had been organised logically and sequentially. Each entry, each image, audio clip or piece of documentation unlocked more and more of Mei's lost memories. By now her mind had filled in most of the blanks.
'None of this will help Kiana.'
[Or us]
Mei sat back and waved off yet another set of documents. By now she understood what Project-MEI had really meant. That it was also a dead end for her. The sealing was successful due to the use of the Core of Domination and its synchronisation with Mei and the Thone being tuned to her own Herrscher energy. Her Herrscher power had returned, but this time she lacked the Core of Domination.
Mei absently stroked her Twin's hair and pondered what to do next. Her origins had been laid bare. But what to do with that knowledge, how that knowledge could be interpreted and applied. That lay just beyond her grasp.
"What do you think?"
Her Twin laughed.
"We share the same mind. How can I possibly possess thoughts beyond yours?"
"Just humour me."
Her Twin reached up from where she sat and patted Mei's cheek affectionately.
"I'm actually touched. The answer to Kiana is probably best left to AE. The excess baggage said she will contact them. Let her do so. Likely they have treatments. We can also steal some the medical supplies from the Roost. That is why you manipulated that situation."
The dark did well to hide Mei's smile. It would have made the [Honkai God] shudder.
"Onto more constructive thoughts," the Twin quickly redirect. "I think the answer lies in me."
"You do have quite the ego."
"I'm a reflection of you."
Mei let out a bark of laughter.
"You have me there. You disappear when Oto-sama severed my Herrscher connection and sealed my Stigma. My Herrscher self, separate from you, reappears when I become a Herrscher."
"Incomplete Herrscher. The same as Wendy. You have seen in Kiana what a True Herrscher is capable of."
"Good point. Even after regaining my body my Herrscher self remains in the background constantly taunting me. Until we finally manage to sort our differences."
"Except I appear when Durandal crushes you beneath her heel."
Mei tapped her lip thoughtfully. She could feel the pieces at the tips of her fingers. All she needed to do was assemble the puzzle. Then it hit her. She tapped her chest. Beneath it she could feel the Herrscher Core. Even now she held it tightly, afraid that it might leak any excess energy and do further harm.
"This isn't real," Mei whispered
"Pardon?"
Mei squeezed her eyes tight shut. It made a cold, logical and painful sense.
"I wanted to be a Herrscher. I was willing to give everything over. I took that power for myself. But that wasn't enough. I'm taking this power from the Honkai. It isn't something willingly given. I created my own core through my previous connection. Normally when a Herrscher appears there is a Honkai Eruption and a huge surge of Honkai energy. The surge comes from the connection between the Core and the Honkai being completed.
I thought previously that my core was so powerful that I had trouble controlling it. The horse and the cart. I was right, but not in that sense."
The Twin knew the realisation before Mei vocalised it.
[The Honkai didn't give it to you. So you take from it. You need power. Lots of power. Enough to congeal into a stable core to anchor your connection.]
"That's why you're here. I'm the same as when I was a child. A Herrscher still in the stages of awakening. You were hidden away in my genes and on the other side of my connection to the Honkai. Durandal put me under enough pressure to genuinely awaken my Stigma and my old connection"
The Twin pressed the back of her head into Mei's chest and snickered.
"I like this idea. Your core is weak and barely held together. It feels like it will survive a day or two. Less if you draw upon it. I doubt we will survive the experience of it shattering."
"Does a Raiden ever yield?"
Mei swept a hand in front of her. The holograms receded, to be replaced with a single window. Green text displayed in the fashion of a computer from the 80's, vertical cursor sliding left to right, slowly filled the screen. A message unlike anything expected.
'Musume,
If you have found this then our efforts failed. You are a Herrscher again. I predicted that you would come here seeking answers. Likely Dr Makaria was right. Memories encoded even in your DNA. It will take time but everything we wiped should return.
I wrote this message upon international charges being levelled at me. Cocolia has made her move to seize power. It will not work as she intends. I have structured ME Corp in such a way that she will never be able to utilise its resources fully. Much like AE it is horizontally structured. This corporate structure is built into its very foundations and the shareholders are unlikely to permit any changes. I commanded my power not through position of authority but due to the loyalty of the directors of the ME Corp divisions. Cocolia is not the inheritor of my legacy.
Knowing what is to come, I have chosen to scuttle the lab. Some fragments were intentionally left. If you ever wanted to understand your legacy.
I will not tell you what to do with your future. It is your life. But if you are reading this then much like the Sovereign you have retained your humanity whilst being a Herrscher. You are a Raiden. Whatever your actions, be true to yourself, true to your family and act with integrity. Fight the Honkai and win. Do it on your own terms and accept the consequences.
Musume, I leave a parting gift to you.'
A hitherto unnoticed compartment on the arm of the chair slid open. Within was a silvery sphere the size of a hen's egg.
'I do not trust the past. But that is my choice. The original contents of this soulium core was something humanity was not ready for. I wiped it and instead chose to store within it the accumulated knowledge I have collated over many years. Do with it as you will.'
"Crafty devil," her Twin acknowledged.
Mei pocketed the soulium core. Her eyes picked through the gloom. A storage compartment next to one of the Honkai reactors, protected by reinforced transparent aluminium, caught her attention. The glass was misty, the contents within obscured. Mei ran her hands over the glass. The compartment hissed as the hermetic seal broken. It slid back to reveal several useful pieces of equipment. A smartphone of slightly antiquated design. Mei knew that as an ME Corp product it was probably more than just a phone. Likely as advanced as anything Anti-Entropy or Schicksal could produce. Next to it was a strange rod no thicker than her finger and twenty centimetres long. Silver circuitry was etched into the brassy metal. Mei pocketed the two pieces of electronic equipment. Recessed into the compartment was a katana of unfamiliar design, the blade glowing a pale electric blue. A tag beneath the blade read "Raikiri." Running parallel to the blade were two vibrant red pistols. The tag on the weapons read "Blaze Destroyer." At the bottom of the compartment was a small hand-written letter on a loose scrap of paper.
'Just in case.
-Hanakawa.'
A small blush of warmth filled Mei's heart. Glancing over her shoulder she saw that the Honkai Reactors had surged in power. A tingling passed through her fingers. Already their output had reached maximum capacity and was only climbing. Mei hung the sword off her belt and deposited the pistols in jacket pockets.
"Looks like dear Ryoma-sama left us one final surprise. Let's not dally."
Mei ran past her laughing twin. The heavy door took far too long to open. Flashlight in hand, Mei sprinted down the corridor and toward the elevator. She slid through the gap and began climbing up the service ladder. It wasn't far to the roof. Reaching the limits of the ladder, Mei drew the pistol and thumbed the activation sensor. A miniature reactor whirred to life. Pulling the trigger launched a ball of plasma. The door above the ladder was torn off it's hingers, fragments of orange liquid metal sailing high into the air. Mei climbed out and onto the cold roof of the building. Shielding her eyes against the fierce wind, Mei looked for a way to get off. A rumble through the structure indicated that not much time remained. Mei ran for the edge of the building, reaching the lip, hopping atop and leaping with Honkai augmented strength. The wave of nausea was worth it, the Herrscher landing in a rough heap atop another roof.
Meanwhile within the ME lab the two reactors reached critical levels. With their limiters disabled they quickly destabilised. The resulting explosion obliterated the contents of the lab, wiping away the legacy of Project-MEI and rending the building asunder. The weight of the surviving top floors crushed what little remained, the building collapsing into the sea, water reclaiming yet another piece of Nagazora's past.
[Well now that was impressive]
"I'd hoped I left you behind in the lab," Mei muttered.
[You said goodbye to sanity when you willingly became a Herrscher]
"That was rather impressive," a calm voice announced.
Mei glanced about. Standing on the lip of the building was a man of indeterminate age. He wore a long coat, reinforced clothing and boots. What drew Mei in was his face. Silver hair. Piercing blue eyes. She didn't need to ask. The man was a Kaslana. But what he lacked was their fire. The man's eyes were cold. They took in everything and transmitted nothing. He was a man that could never yield from his course.
"And you are…"
"The Serpent."
'Kevin Kaslana. Oto-sama had notes about him. Best give nothing away.'
"What do you want from me?"
"A trade."
Mei folded her arms and gave Kevin her full attention.
"What could you possibly offer me?"
"A chance to save Kiana."
Mei leant forward a fraction. Enough to tell just how much she wanted an answer.
"The three Cores within her body are slowly poisoning her. Sooner or later the Honkai energy will kill her. Or allow the Herrscher to rise again. If you want to save her then become the Herrscher of Thunder again."
'Let's play the fool and see where it gets me.'
"I thought I was the Herrscher."
Kevin shook his head.
"You are incomplete. Your connection to the Imaginary Tree remains but what is within you is a weak fragment. The Honkai power within Nagazora is enough. Absorb it and reclaim your title. The core within Kiana will disintegrate as you create a new one. It will save her life"
Mei bit her lip. He was telling her everything she already knew. Confirming her theories was a reassurance. A sensation prickled across her skin but Mei ignored it. There were more important things. A question filled with foreboding.
"What do you want in exchange for helping me?"
"Join World Serpent. Project STIGMA can save Kiana. Return her to being human. Your power will help STIGMA. You know Kiana. Even if you save her life this time she will throw it away again. Again and again. She will sacrifice herself to protect anything but herself. You cannot save Kiana. Complete Project STIGMA and save her."
Temptation.
True temptation.
A possibility for hope. To join World Serpent and save Kiana. Stop the Honkai. Save Humanity. Mei would not deny the temptation. Then she thought of the twelve children in the Roost. She thought of everything her friends had gone through. Thought of how Kiana had suffered. How everyone had since the Honkai Eruption. And before that. Oto-sama's notes, those she had time to read, hinted at so much. The prickling of Mei's skin couldn't be ignored.
"Think about it," Kevin offered. "Do not take too long."
A reverberating roar filled the air. Mei looked up to see Benares swooping overhead, banking on heavy wings before heading towards a distant flare of light. The air suddenly whipped up, a pillar of light punching up through the clouds and into a disc of twisting purple. Mei could feel the Honkai power emanating even from where she stood. The beginnings of a Honkai Eruption. A cold sense of dread settled over Mei. The radio chirped.
"Mei. MEI!"
The irritated woman took the radio from her pocket
"I'm currently entertaining guests," she said eyeing Kevin.
"Kiana's gotten away from me. I think she's heading toward a Honkai Eruption."
"That had better be one of your very bad jokes."
"She woke up and ran."
"Why didn't you stop her! She's on death's door."
"Kiana seemed to recover and I didn't stop her because I'm not going to pick a fight with a dragon."
Mei's heart sunk into the abyssal depths of an Antarctic ocean. Fingers twitched unconsciously. Her breathing picked up in anticipation of a panic attack. Mei took a deep breath, centred herself and calmed her mind. She could not give anything away to Kevin. Mei turned the radio off. Flecks of concrete and loose soil rose up toward the sky. The windows of buildings shivered and shattered, fragments of glass scattering outward before defying gravity.
'This isn't just a Honkai Eruption. Something else is… or someone else…'
Mei was sprinting across the building. She cast aside any notions of conserving power. The Herrscher drew deeply on the power within her core. Honkai energy was spent augmenting her speed and strength. With each powered leap she electromagnetically projected herself over rooftops. Each landing sent waves of pain rippling through Mei. Bile tickled Mei's throat. Her thoughts were soggy and soaked deep in viscous pain. On and on she ran, the Dragon inexorably fading into the distance. Mei couldn't tell how long she ran for. Her lungs burnt and still she ran. Her limbs ached and still she ran. Her vision blurred as the Honkai burns beneath her clothing seared flesh. Mei ran as though it were the end of the world. For if Kiana died then it would have been. Mei knew with with certainty what she would do. What her future held. The pillar of light, now closer, pulsed again, searing brilliant white into Mei's eyes and knocking her to the ground.
Wiping tears from her eyes, Mei looked around and gasped. She lay in the fragmented outer courtyard of Chiba Academy. The school she had attended before destroying Nagazora. The school where Mei and Kiana had first met.