Bawdy laughter carried down the plush carpet hallway. The door to Mei's personal offices was wide open, two women sitting in comfortable chairs cackling and sniggering as a storm played out past the wide windows of the room. The tomb-towers of Nagazora lit up in electric blue and purple.
"You actually choked him out, Senpai?"
"Should have heard the pseudo- cartilage in his throat pop. He couldn't upload himself out of that body fast enough. Which was a pity. I really wanted him to suffer more. Arsehole shot me. Right through the head. I should have grabbed his head and torn it off."
Mei sniggered and topped up her guest's glass of wine.
"Please tell me crushing Durandal was just as satisfying."
"Oh, you would not believe it. She's always had this 'I can do anything' attitude. Confidence is fine and all. But being that smug. Pffff. Arrogant bitch. I should know. I'm an arrogant bitch too."
The woman tapped her lip and gave Mei a rather sly glance.
"Then again. That confidence runs in the family."
Mei knocked back a little of her glass. She managed her alcohol intake carefully and was prepared to disintegrate the molecules in her bloodstream when necessary.
"Now who's a tease?"
The guest flashed a wicked grin.
"But where would the fun be if I told you everything? It's not like Otto or Kevin has shared much. I'd rather watch you all slowly solve what is really going on rather than spoil the story, sweety."
Mei lifted her glass in acknowledgement. It had been worth the attempt. Her guest had been coy about some things and effusive on others. Trying to get a handle on her was not easy.
"But I'll give you this one for free. Durandal can bounce. Just launch her at the ground fast enough and she's just like a basketball. It was even funnier when she tried to overpower me with her battlesuit. Does she think some fancy clothing cribbed from 50,000-year-old tech can counter me? Me. The Herrscher of Sentience! I shredded those phantoms and her battlesuit. She's still alive. Don't worry. It's funnier when she is left to dwell on her utter defeat at the hands of a clearly superior entity."
Mei chuckled at the thought.
"I am in your debt for those stories and what you did. I think I promised Christmas Hamper once. But business before pleasure. So, Alter Hua, just why are you taking one of the Raitaro for a joyride?"
"Nooo, nooo. Save that for later. I have other stories too. From 50,000 years ago. I can tell you all about the Previous Era. Or from when I was the Azure Empyrean."
Alter Hua stood up and struck a pose.
"Guardian of all of Shenzhou. The Phoenix that never slept. Grand Master of the Edge of Taixuan."
Mei made a gesture like one would to a drunk friend to coax them into sitting again.
"I wouldn't mind those stories, Senpai. But being Jeska's employer and as she was working at the time, under Occupational Health and Safety guidelines I do need to ask how you came to reside within her body."
Alter Hua sniffed and sat down in a huff.
"It was all the old Geezer's fault. If she'd just listened to me than none of this would have happened. I'm strong as Kevin. No. Stronger now. We tried and I was pushing him to his limits. Not even Shamash stood a chance against me. Unless he activated the Honkai Factor, and he never would because that means game-over, end of the species, I would have won. I could have protected the planet. Humanities true guardian."
The grouchy woman grabbed her flute of wine and downed it in one heady gulp.
"Except the Geezer and her girlfriend didn't see it that way. They didn't see what I'm capable of."
"Geezer and… girlfriend?"
"Oh, you should see the two of them. It's a classic master/ apprentice romance thing. Neither of them will admit it. Nothing platonic about the pair. Hey would that make the Geezer a cradle snatcher? She's 50,000 years old and Kiana is just 17. Actually, the Geezer burnt up most of her memories so do we base this off physical memory length or mental memory length?"
Mei topped up Alter Hua's glass.
'That is a little unexpected. Perhaps having each other to lean up will help ground the pair and give them some much needed emotional support.'
"I've read the reports from my Information Broker. What I'd like to hear is your side of the story. Objectively. Without the salacious commentary."
Alter Hua smirked.
"You could get in on that. A Herrscher three-way. I think urban dictionary calls it a tri-force or something like that."
The skies outside rumbled. Matching their master's temperament.
"I could just strip you of all power and forcefully eject you from Jeska's body."
Alter Hua let out a bark of laughter. Her smouldering coal eyes fixed on Mei.
"You could barely stand up against an echo of who I was. A single feather." Fingers flexed. "Do you really think you would last against the real me? Besides, we both know the true value of this girl is. Her Herrscher energy compatibility is amazing. Can't afford to waste even one drop of their blood."
Mei shrugged in defeat.
"I'm just trying to understand what happened after Kiana and Fu Hua defeated you, Senpai."
"The old Geezer tried to make an offer. Said we could work together. No way was I going to ride in the sidecar. I want my own body! I left her behind. She has the core but the Herrscher power follows me around. The Honkai keeps trying to get me to do stuff. Stupid noisy insect in my ear. I'm my own woman."
Alter Hua raised her glass toward the ceiling and glared at something only she could see.
"Screw you and your destroy the world bullshit. I do what I want, how I want, when I want. Anyway, I just wandered around for a bit. Tried out a few people's minds. Nothing really fitted well. I knew if I lodged myself in there, I would have a place to live. But they would burn out quickly. Last maybe a week before becoming a zombie. Not my style."
The two women looked at each other over the top of their wine flutes. Lightning briefly lit the room, thunder shaking the window moments later.
"You are nothing like the Geezer remembers."
"Oh?"
"I nearly killed your best friend. I certainly crushed Bronya beneath my will. All of the Hyperion was in danger. You don't even blink. All the memories I inherited from her are of a weak girl too afraid to grasp her own power. A wallflower. Good for cooking and pep-talks. And. Not. Much. Else."
"Everyone has to grow up someday."
Alter Hua nodded in agreement.
"Can't be a child forever. I was until the Honkai consumed everything I ever cared about. The Old Geezer can't remember our home, our dojo, our friend, our school. She barely remembers the Flame Chasers or even DR MEI. And she certainly doesn't remember Elysia. Probably for the best. It was all a big mess. I was the youngest and the naivest of the surviving MANTIS."
The Herrscher rolled her back over the chair, head upside down and gazing at the wall behind.
"We were too busy fighting each other to actually put up a proper fight. It's a funny thing. The Current Era is technologically inferior to us, but it's odd of survival are much better because you don't waste too much time stabbing each other in the back."
"I do not follow."
"The three big powers don't exactly get along. But you're all fighting the Honkai. Schicksal isn't turning in on itself. AE isn't imploding. World Serpent are psycho fuckers but that's Grey Serpent and their obsession with Dr Mobius for you. Still traitors never survive long with that group."
Alter Hua raised her free hand in the air and used it to gesture about.
"I hate Otto but I have to admire him. He knows everything because of the Void Archives. He knows that we wasted too much time with our edgy teenage angst bullshit politics. In the Current Era your organisations run pretty well. Okay yes, the Far East branch split off. Otto however wanted that and knew they would hook up with AE."
The Herrscher sat forward again and had a sip of alcohol.
"What I'm saying is that you don't have as much to work with, but you do far better with it. The Previous Era, us, we were too busy being dumbarses to get anything done. Half the time our survival was a fluke more than anything else. Miraculous timing."
For the first time, Mei watched Alter Hua, wearing Jeska's face, turn dark.
"Or we learnt our lessons too late from people who shouldn't have had to teach us in the first place. People far better than us who sacrificed everything for us. We might have succeeded if we had paid more attention."
The last of the wine went quickly down Alter Hua's throat. She stood up in a blink and stretched.
"Ahhhh. I really needed that. Thank you, Mei. I haven't had a good chance to vent since I woke up. Everyone was too busy trying to kill me."
"I know the feeling. My door is always open. Speaking of which, would you be interested in permanent work?"
"Join Yurei? It's a tempting offer. You aren't as stupid as the rest. But I guess you want your soldier free as part of the deal."
"With Otto having faked his death Schicksal is free to negotiate more broadly. I know they conducted multiple cloning experiments, especially where Theresa and Kiana are concerned. No doubt they have samples held in storage. For a price, I could arrange for them to send a body over. A blank slate with just as much Honkai and Herrscher energy compatibility."
The Herrscher of Sentence tapped a finger against her chin thoughtfully.
"That really is a good offer. How long would it take?"
"It depends on how much blackmail material I would need to expend. Durandal is the interim Overseer with Amber managing the day-to-day operations. I would need to twist both their arms a decent amount. Amber is aware of the cloning projects so I wouldn't have to push hard there. It's more getting Durandal to do what I want with as few questions as possible. I don't think she would like the idea of giving the Herrscher of Sentience a new body."
Mei raised her glass and then downed it
"I, on the other hand, can think of nothing better."
"A new body for my support?"
"Finances and freedom too. I can arrange $50 million USD in an untraceable account. Not even I would know where you are or what you are spending on. I don't expect you to loiter around Nagazora bored out of your mind. Go out there in the wide world and do what you want. I would only call upon you in very serious circumstances."
'There is nothing more terrifying for the Honkai than a truly unpredictable agent of chaos walking the earth that loathes them more than I do.'
A half-smirk bloomed on Alter Hua's face.
"Not a bad business deal. Not a bad one at all. What if I refuse?"
Mei got up and walked over to one of the wide viewing windows. Looked back at the chair. The bubbling storm silhouetted the Herrscher, lightning striking nearby hills.
"Could I ask for your advice, Senpai?"
"Certainly."
"I'm thinking of how best to throw you out the room. The most efficient means to get you as far away from my headquarters as possible."
Alter Hua wandered over to where Mei stood. She pressed a single finger against the window. It wasn't simple glass. More a specialised reinforced matrix and metamaterial double glazing that could take railgun rounds with minimal damage. Where Alter Hua pressed her finger, spiderweb cracks fanned outwards.
"You'd lose too much kinetic energy throwing me bodily against the glass. Launch the desk through the window first and hurl me through the gap."
"Thank-you, Senpai"
"How long did you give your people?"
Mei turned and leant against the glass.
"I told them they had one hour to find a way to solve this situation. It's good training for them. Think of a crisis solution within strict time constraints."
Alter Hua nodded in agreement.
"Jeska has good memories of these people. Respects them. I can see what you are putting together. Which is why you both want me employed but also away from your people. If I eventually turn to the Honkai, my knowledge of your inner workings could prove disastrous."
"Am I that transparent, Senpai?"
"No. It is simply I am that much smarter than you."
Mei sighed.
"Time is nearly up. I really like that desk too."
'Part of any deal, especially with a hostile customer, is the power to back up any consequences for a deal's fallout. In that case—"
"—We take Jeska back by force—"
"—is not how you resolve an impasse.'
Mei and Alter Hua looked up. Standing in the frame of the doorway was Eva, thunder in her eyes, hand gripping a very familiar weapon.
'Raikiri. That was their disruption? Their chaos in the equation?'
A dry chuckle carried around the room. Alter Hua looked intrigued. She set down her wine glass and moved into the open space between desk and entrance. A hand gestured to one side, red Honkai energy laden mist summoned and coalesced into a spear. Eva walked into the room, blade at her side, Amarant a few paces behind and closing the door. Alter Hua looked at her surprise opponent before laughing again.
"Why is it, Mei, that so many of your people are immune to my charms?"
'Amarant and the rest of the members of Amano-Iwato I will deal with later. Time to humour their choice of actions and buy some time.'
"A few years ago, Oto-sama used me as guinea pig for his experiments on the Herrscher of Thunder. One of the pieces of technology he developed were complex EM fields that could protect from all manner of Honaki derived interference or attack. In combat terms they could generate defensive shields. Against psychic entities like you they shielded the electrochemical aspects of the human mind. Amarant, somehow, managed to acquire this technology. That phone of her is quite an impressive tool. The sword at Eva's side does the same thing."
Alter Hua nodded before rolling her shoulders.
"I like this. Very dramatic! A final show-down between the closest of friends, now one unwillingly turned against the other. Such drama. Such passion. This is how we always solve problems, isn't it Eva? A duel. A contest to see who is hungrier for the success."
"Don't pretend you're Jeska just because you're infesting her," Eva growled.
"I'm not lying. That is exactly what she's thinking right now. She wants you to win too." Alter Hua's sing-song voice carried around the room. "There's something Jeska wants to tell you. That's our own deal. If you win then she gets to speak her mind. If you lose then it's our little secret and I leave."
Wine glass still in hand, Mei reclined in her seat and watched the situation. Now was the time to see how Yurei would deal with a threat such as the Herrscher of Sentience. They could not and would not rely on their own Herrscher to solve every major disturbance and danger.
"You seem quite happy for your subordinates to do their own thing," Alter Hua observed.
Mei shrugged.
"I will admit this is a surprise. But I want to see what they do. It might catch both of us off guard."
'And that is the point.'
It was Alter Hua's turn to shrug. She sized her opponent up and oozed into a combat stance.
"Be still as water," Alter Hua intoned. "Be free from dust."
Eva shifted into a defensive stand. Raikiri hummed into life, the unusual EM field projecting about the blade.
"Be clear as a mirror," Alter Hua ended.
The Herrscher of Sentience was so fast even Mei's augmented senses had difficulty keeping up. Which was why Mei smiled when she realised that Eva's eyes were keeping pace. The spear thrust forward. Eva moved. Moved only enough for the spear to pierce her stomach and avoid any vital organs. Let it run straight through and out her back. In making an attack you also committed to it. In striking your foe you hand no chance to defend. Alter Hua had hit. But she was left open. Eva didn't attack with her weapon. She didn't need to. At such close range her intentions could not be resisted. Raikiri was a catalyst, a tool to mould Honkai and Herrscher energy into a unique form that only the Herrscher of Thunder would understand. A sealing technique that rivalled that of the Herrscher of Binding. Eva's counterstroke was to unleash the legacy of the 3rd Herrscher. The clap of the Honkai and Herrscher augmented EM pulse echoed through the room. It caught the Herrscher of Sentience in its grasp and twisted. Warped. Knotted. The connection between Herrscher and Imaginary Space was sealed.
The room was bathed is coruscating waves of pale white light. Flesh, blood and bone felt as though it were being burnt. Honkai energy was stripped away, converting to thermal radiation that bled into the air. The pulse of power lasted long enough to evaporate every drop of Honkai energy within Mei. When finally the air cleared Mei could see Amarant looking pale, the Herrscher of Sentience panting and sweating, Eva clutching the wound where the spear had once been. Mei mentally reached out and drew deeply on the Honkai energy via her core. She clapped her hands.
"That is what Yurei is capable of, Alter Hua. I bought time for whatever they needed to do. That was all. A plan from conception, resourcing, preparation and finally execution in less than an hour. Not bad. I think we could call this your loss."
Jeska dropped to her knees, panting and groaning. The door flung inward. Two members of the medical staff immediately tended to Eva. The wound, though not fatal, was still severe and would require surgery. The Valkyrja however stubbornly refused to move after initial treatment. A third medic looked Jeska over.
"You probably burnt away a decade of your life doing that," Mei addressed Eva as the medics did their work.
"I've only got months left anyway," Eva replied. "What's an extra few years?"
Mei smirked at the black humour. A nod in her direction had Amarant walking over to Mei. She whispered something in Mei's ear. Jeska waved off the medic and slowly stood. She reached up and plucked the ashen black feather from her hair. Looked down at it. Cradled the object as though it were a child.
"Raiden-sama," Jeska addressed her superior, "I won my bet with Alter Hua and want to say something."
Jeska's squad had assembled in Sheol once Eva had been discharged from surgery. The entire time Jeska had held the feather and refused to part with it. Kurikawa became her shadow, beside the woman and ready to strike at a moment's notice. When Eva arrived, it was very clear she should have been in bed recovering and not standing there with a sallow complexion and heavy rings under her eyes. With everyone assembled Mei looked to the Valkyrja that had been brief host to a Herrscher.
"I want my squad to join Alter Hua on her travels," Jeska said matter-of-fact to the assembled Raitaro.
Silence.
Lots of silence.
Deafening silence.
Eva was the first to speak. The first to very eloquently put it.
"What?"
Jeska turned to her friend.
"Two reasons. Firstly, she's a Herrscher. We can only train with Raiden-sama a little at a time. Alter Hua however can train with us consistently. Teach us how to better use Herrscher energy. We would have a great advantage over others. Secondly. Alter Hua is a Master of the Edge of Taixuan. It's a martial arts technique designed to allow ordinary people to fight the Honkai. It worked in the past. People without Stigma or fancy technology or other unusual abilities could fight the Honkai at an equal footing. We could learn this. Learn the Edge of Taixuan. It would make us very powerful. A Raitaro squad ready to take on whatever surprises the Honkai might suddenly throw at us."
A long, drawn-out sigh. Evan pinched her nose. She knew the answer to her next question. But it still needed to be asked.
"And what is her price?"
"She wants to travel in me. Says she likes the feel of my body."
….
"Ah. Sorry. That came out wrong. What she means to say is that any of the clone bodies that Schicksal might offer won't be as good as one of the Raitaro. We would share. Her most of the time, me the rest."
"You know what I'm going to say next."
"Of course. I'd doubt the offer too. I would wonder if somehow the Herrscher were influencing me and the moment it took control again then we'd die or worse."
The Raitaro all glanced to Mei. Raiden had a bemused look.
"Looks like Senpai was ahead of me in every way," Mei muttered to herself.
Mei cleared her throat.
"It is an interesting offer. I extend a hand for Alter Hua to join Yurei. This would be her joining our organisation on her terms. Which doesn't surprise me. I am willing to entertain the thought. It is more are you comfortable with this, Jeska? Even I have my suspicions whether you chose this idea yourself or if the Herrscher of Sentience used their powers upon you."
"How about a demonstration?"
"Oh?"
"You can tell right now that the Herrscher of Sentience is dormant?"
Mei extended her senses just enough. Nothing of the unique Honkai field that represented the Herrscher of Sentience suffused Jeska. What little energy it had lay dormant and cool within the feather.
"Your point?"
"I'm still sealed by whatever Eva did. Can you lend me some Honkai energy?"
Curiosity is a dangerous thing. Mei's eyes flickered between Kurikawa and Amarant. Insurance against the unforeseen. Both tipped their heads a fraction. With a shrug, Mei walked over and offered a hand.
"Nothing about today has been normal. I want to see what this demonstration is."
Jeska's light touch wiped away Mei's casual attitude. The girl draw upon and wielded Honkai energy with a deftness that approached her own. She took the energy, spun it through the feather and projected the power outwards. The Herrscher of Sentience was able to create not only mental illusions but the projection of visual ones too. Everyone stood in the darkness of night upon a black plasma-steel floor. Various structures had been torn asunder, Honkai beasts on a rampage, the distinct crimson of distant building fires bright in the night sky.
"Each of these feathers carries the last memories of whoever they were implanted within before their deactivation," Jeska explained. "I only spent a little time with Alter Hua and I can already manipulate this sort of power."
Mei. Raiden Mei. Her mouth was dry. Her mind was a void. Her skin prickled with cold and heat even though the illusion lacked either sense. No question need be asked. Senpai had always been one step ahead. She knew the script before Mei had even begun reading her lines. Mei knew what came next. Something nobody wanted to ask but everyone deserved to know.
"I can show you the final moments of the feather that lay with Theresa Apocalypse."