In Central Hong Kong the night was alight with its many buildings, and standing on one of the roofs was a woman with fiery red hair, golden eyes and an alluring figure wearing a fancy red dress that complimented her.
She was known as Himeko Murata, a Valkyrie and teacher of St. Freya Academy whom currently had personal time off and was on a date. Things were going quite smoothly tonight until spotlights were on her and her date. This triggered a berserk button within the woman as she gave her date a kiss and rendered him unconcious as the crew of the aerial battleship Hyperion came to pick her up.
There was an unspoken code amongst the members of the Hyperion that they took to heart, be quick to the chase and explain the situation and let Himeko vent her frustrations upon the Honkai that ruined her date. Given how Valkyries had short lives due to dying in the line of duty, having a love life was important to the women involved with this job. And Himeko was one such women who wanted such a love life.
Now, the Honkai were going to feel a woman's scorn.
*?*
She saluted her boss; the Archbishop of Schicksal, Otto Apocalypse as he had called her here for a priority mission.
"As you know Team V lead by Himeko Murata is heading towards Nagazora to quell a small Honkai Outbreak, but there is a situation they're unaware of that need you to handle."
The image showed on the holographic screen was the face of a person. A man that had terrorized the Valkyries for years since Second Impact happend, a monster of an opponent that slayed them in droves and had bested her many times on the battlefield when she first encountered him. His name was as much as a taboo to utter like his slayed queen the Herrscher of Void.
"I have no clue as to why you're fixiated on him, but you're the only one whose been able to survive multiple encounters with him and even expose his face to us. I even requested assistance from Anti-Entropy for this situation and they agreed on the spot."
It was a given, since this man-dubbed Praetorian of the Void had caused both Schicksal and Anti-Entropy much pain and grief after the defeat of the Herrscher of Void years ago. They made an agreement to use everything in their arsenal to finally end this unholy Scourge of God once they regained their strength from Second Impact so the nightmare can finally be over.
Once he was down, they can finally go back at each others throats on how to defeat the Honkai.
*Nagazora-Japan*
"Well..." Nikolai sighed as he and Bella, along with three others sat in a store to rest as night settled in. "Things have gotten out of hand." he mused as he looked at the three girls armed with guns.
One was a girl with twin drills for her silver hair and blue eyes, her European origins sticking out like a sore thumb in Japan whist the other was a native Japanese girl who had her hair in a high ponytail and purple ribbon to hold it up.
Their names were Kiana Kaslana and Mei Raiden, students of Chiba Academy that survived ground zero of the Honkai Eruption.
Kiana Kaslana survived due to her bloodline; the Kaslana family had a natural resistance to Honkai energy and were sworn knights that fought against their eternal struggle with the Honkai.
Mei Raiden was different in her situation, for she was a human turned Herrscher, a godlike being chosen by the Honkai to be their 'emissary' in their crusade to destroying humanity. Thanks to Kiana's own efforts, Mei regained control of herself and the Herrscher power became dormant.
A feat that was considered an impossible miracle.
Third but last was a young Russian girl by the name of Bronya Zaychik. She was not part of Chiba Academy and actually an agent of one of his old 'friends' Anti-Entropy. From what he gathered when he interrogated (bribed) her, they were after Mei in hopes of using her power to rescue someone from the Sea of Quanta.
Nikolai wasn't sure how insane their plan was to mess with that place or the fact that it was the wrong Herrscher they planned to use to safely enter that place. But the situation has gotten bad to worse at the moment.
When Kiana subdued the Herrscher of Thunder, the excess Honkai energy that was supposed to fulfill the manifestation was expelled out towards the Honkai beasts appearing in the city. Now they're bigger and more violent than before and very difficult of the man to control.
With that, he and Bella had no choice but to ensure the Herrscher's safety by escorting her out of Nagazora. But bizarre things keep happening as they attempt to leave; sure other members of Anti-Entropy appeared, but one opponent was a miko (priestess in Japan) wielding portions of a Herrscher's power from the Previous Era!
Now that one was unexpected and Nikolai hated to admit it, he wanted another go at her. It was so hard nowadays to find people on equal footing, and that Valkyrie girl was the only one capable of keeping him on his toes.
"Hey Nick!" Kiana called out, breaking the man from his thoughts as he noticed her waving him to come over as he obliged. "I always thought you were a bad guy since you're with the Honkai, but why are you helping us?"
How blunt of her. One of the things Nikolai liked about her personality since he didn't have to be careful of what buttons he'd have to press.
"Honestly, the Honkai aren't evil. They're similar to white blood cells...fighting off an infection that's in hiding amongst the humans." he answered cryptically as this captured the attention of the three girls.
"...An infection that's hiding amongst the humans...?" Mei questioned, caution in her voice as she finished bandaging her arm.
"Yes...a hidden threat only the Honkai knew of. When they made their first appearance, the First Impact was a result to find and destroy it before it became a legitimate threat." Nikolai nodded his head solemnly.
The girls looked at each other, knowing each Honkai Impact sparked a Herrscher to rise and a sense of worry to develop inside of them. That was when Bronya raised her hand like a student.
"Nikolai. The Bronya has a question I'd like answered; does Mei's awakening involve these threats?" the girl inquired, catching Mei off-guard by that as Nikolai quickly realized what the girl was doing. It was quite clever of the girl as she knew the truth but wanted Mei to feel good.
"No. This was artificial in nature; one made by humans seeking to capture a Herrscher for their own twisted agendas. Which makes Mei's safety a priority." Nikolai answered as Mei looked relieved that she wasn't directly responsible for her home city to be destroyed like it was.
"Heh, heh, no problems there Nicky. I, Kiana will be Mei-senpai's knight!" the silver haired girl responded as she puffed her chest up in pride. It did wonders of how optimism can be at times and that brought smiles on everyone's face. Leave it to Kiana to brighten everyone's mood like that.
"I'll make sure you're up to par on that oath young knight, but for the young Lightning Princess I need to share a few important words with you, privately please." The man nodded his head before turning his attention to Mei. It startled the young girl but she nodded, knowing that this was important for her since the day they met him at the rooftop of their school. Slowly making it to a different location in the store, they began their talk.
"I apologize for the situation you are in Raiden Mei," Nikolai honestly admitted, "But given the circumstances I need to tell you a few things before we part ways tomorrow." Mei blinked at that, surprised by the news as the man that had been by their side continued his talk.
"Your Herrscher other has gone dormant but is aware of everything around you. She will not take over unless you are emotionally unstable or in danger, two factors that given your current life is dangerous for others. But don't fear, she does this only to protect you and will return control once the dangers have passed. Seeing as you have friends like Kiana and Bronya she'll be on the back seat, watching over just in case something is beyond your current level."
Hearing that from Nikolai was relieving for Mei, as she had been worried about her other self for some time and given he knows both the Honkai and Herrschers and was explaining it calmly soothed her nerves. She let out a sigh of relief before looking at Nikolai as she realized he had more to say to her.
"Be careful miss, despite being a Herrscher, you did not manifest the full power-only a partial amount. If you were to fight a fully awakened Herrscher it would be fatal. Learn to pick your fights if you decide to aid in fighting the Honkai as a possible future for you." That was certainly bad news, the one that gave a sense of foreboding.
"W-What did you mean a partial amount exactly?" she asked nervously, the bad feeling starting to grow in the pit of her stomach.
"Due to Kiana's actions, you did not absorb enough Honkai energy to become a full Herrscher. That energy is scattered and had caused the Honkai beasts to become larger and more violent. Now I have to go and contain the damage and cultivate the energy to a single place to ensure the safety of any potential survivors out there." Nikolai explained with an obviously frustrated look on his face as Mei pondered something about the situation.
She only has a portion of a Herrscher's power, not enough to face of against another Herrscher for sure and the rest had gone missing while making Nagazora a potential graveyard if Nikolai didn't take care of it. "Nikolai-san, what will happen to the energy you cultivate exactly?"
The man blinked before smiling dryly, "Ensure the energy is used to make you fully manifest as Herrscher of Thunder of course. You weren't due for a few more years anyway and thanks to Kiana's actions, you will be the main personality-a protector of humanity, not its destroyer like intended." he answered.
How he can be so casually honest about that was beyond Mei's comprehension but the realization that her powers can be used for good thanks to Kiana's help really motivated the girl to try and do the right thing.
"Since you seem happy that you will be in control, I'll leave some advice for you. When absorbing Honkai energy, focus on something or someone important to you, a desire if you will that can help override the Honkai's influence so you can be in control of yourself. With proper training with your powers for the next few years you'll be more than worthy to become Herrscher of Thunder when you return." he assured her as Mei had realized one crucial problem.
"Um, Nikolai-san, whose going to teach me how to use my powers?" Mei asked nervously as a certain small humanoid dragon flew over.
"That's where I come in!" Bella replied happily as Mei was startled by her sudden appearance. "I was given sentience and power by the Gem of Conquest within you by my Queen long ago when she had it. So I have years of experience and knowledge to teach you how to use lightning!" she told Mei as said teenager resisted the urge to glomp Bella with all her might. To make something so cute was illegal!
"Another thing I should mention, Bella is coming with you three. She's grown fond of the three of you and I believe having more friends would help Bella understand humans more...that is if you're willing."
There was no need to answer that, the three girls have grown fond of Bella-especially Kiana for some reason. So having her with them would be no problem and Mei could carefully learn how to control her powers. Things were starting to look up for them.
/Next Time...\
"As you all know, the Praetorian of the Void is in Nagazora. Our mission is co-oped with Anti-Entropy in hopes of finally defeating him and ending this nightmare once and for all." She spoke to her fellow Valkyries.
"So what we're up against isn't a monster, it's actually history." one of the Immortal Blades muttered silently to herself.
"Systems...it..ge...Get out of there!"
Nikolai bursted from the ruined building behind the squadron, in all of his Honkai Form as he roared with bloodlust.
The Queen's Right Hand flew in the air, claws lit with flames as everyone ran to take cover. Then, the city was bathed in fire.
