The Winter's Thaw
A clash of metal could be heard ringing throughout a courtyard.
Two figures were locked in a duel amidst the confines of a luxurious palace. One, a rugged man who looked to have borne witness to a vast variety of events. The other, a young man with eyes that reflected emotions unbecoming of one seemingly so young.
"You can't simply swing your blade around like a stick!" The older man replied. "Your blade is your constant companion, to use it without thought, invites the enemy to run you through. With the way you handle your weapon, I might be inclined to let them."
The young man dusted off the gravel from his impact with the grains of rock. From the look of annoyance and frustration on his face, it was clear this was not the first time he had fallen to such a position.
"Aren't you supposed to swing it around?" Asked Einar with a face filled with exasperation.
The gruff man replied with boundless patience, "You do not simply, 'swing it around' as you say. You allow your blade to flow like water within your hands, you shape the waves with the grace of Amaterasu and the strength of Susanoo."
"That was more poetry than it was helpful advice."
The older man sighed at this remark, it was not the first the boy had made dismissing his more formal speeches. This boy held no respect for ancient customs.
"Never stop moving. That is the essence of a true master swordsman."
At the confused nature of his apprentice, the man elaborated, "Carry the weight of your previous strike into the next and then the next and then the next. Stop only to parry the blows of your adversaries but keep connecting your strike to the next action you take. Strike, not with the power of a mountain but with the grace of the water. Erode the enemy through perseverance until they fall, never giving ground."
Einar pondered the man's words. They didn't make much sense to him at the moment, but they were certainly leagues above his previous words of advice.
The older man had reached out a hand to help up the still prone form of the other male. The latter accepted and said, "Again."
Smiling, the rugged lord responded, "Are you sure?"
The boy bore no talent in the art of swordsmanship, the only factor that would decide his growth would be perseverance. The ability to face his failures and incompetence with renewed vigor.
The boy simply nodded, a bit of light shone in his eyes. A light that hadn't made its appearance since he arrived in his home by way of the lord's son. It was only a small flicker, an ember, but it had the chance to grow into a roaring flame.
The lord gave a toothy grin, "Alright then, begin!"
The courtyard was soon filled with the crash of metal once more.
And all the while, a small girl watched.
The sounds of crashing objects could be heard. Sounds reminiscent of shattering glass amidst a frozen glade.
A male figure could be seen slicing down an onslaught of icy protrusions that sought to impale him. He carried a simple single edged silver blade coated in golden flames.
Several meters away a white haired maiden could be seen with her arm outstretched. Her eyes were a pale blue that seemed to hold little care for the things it gazed upon save the boy in front of her.
Einar used his sword to slice the large pillars of ice before they reached him. He twirled his blade with both hands as he spun, almost dancing, as he cut the ice. The flames coating his blade allowing it to cut through with an impossible ease.
"Is this going to be a recurring thing or what?" Einar asked during his flurry of attacks.
The girl gave a blinding grin, "Only if you want it to be."
The boy cut through an icicle and vaulted himself upwards, slicing more frosty protrusions as he fell.
"Well, considering you're kind of ruining the seasons, I'd say we need to keep it to dates at the ice rink." The boy jested while he closed the distance between them.
The girl held a dainty hand to her cheek as her cheeks gained a red hue, "That might be quite nice..."
The girl's ponderings gave way to a gap in her defenses that Einar capitalized on, rushing towards her at tremendous speeds.
No retaliation was given as the boy impacted the girl with the edge of his blade and dragged it through her torso, meeting nearly no resistance.
The blushing face of the girl proceeded to melt away as her severed body faded into liquid.
The boy dismissed his sword as he gained a look of annoyance on his face, "Another copy? This is getting ridiculous."
Although that's probably the only reason such an idiotic strategy worked, the boy though to himself.
The 5th Herrscher, the Herrscher of Ice.
She had exhibited tremendous control over both the temperature and ice, so much so, that she could create copies of herself that she could manipulate like a proxy body. Fire Moth has not yet detected multiple copies appearing at the same time or within a set period of one another.
This meant that she couldn't make more than one at once but the time it takes for her to make something so detailed is yet unknown. It's not as though Fire Moth can find a single individual's exact location and appearance perfectly, so the Herrscher's location still remained elusive.
The upside was that none of her copies seemed particularly powerful, which meant Einar could take them on alone and inform the teams on standby whether it was legitimate or not. So far, no luck.
Sighing, Einar opened up the comm link of his ear, "Another fake. Kevin, can you pick me up?"
A disappointed sigh met the announcement as the aircraft rendezvoused with the boy. Unlike Einar, Kevin was on standby and didn't have anything to do but wait until the true Herrscher was found. And, as horrifying as Herrscher are, combat was still vastly more enjoyable than sitting in a metal aircraft in the middle of a Honkai made snowstorm.
Despite Kevin being one of the most patient people Einar knew, he was getting tired of the many Herrscher clones that they had encountered. He understood the advantage that a surprise attack might provide but it was far from a riveting experience.
The vehicle was also nice for preserving the limited amount of stamina that Einar possessed for controlling Honkai. A downside to his powers that Kevin found more cumbersome by the day.
With the silver aircraft landing Einar took a last look at the surrounding area, it was still covered in snow and frost. He chalked that up to the Herrscher not being defeated yet and climbed into the vehicle.
Inside the craft Einar made his way to the cockpit where Kevin was currently piloting the ship. Yasuhiro didn't want to risk the lives of any pilots for this ploy and gave orders for Kevin to be given pilot training.
Initially, it was Einar who was going to fly but after nearly crashing four different aircraft that idea was scrapped.
Kevin, surprisingly enough, was the one to break the silence, "What's wrong."
Einar gained a look of shock, he hadn't expected Kevin to be the type to ask questions regarding feelings.
The white haired teen continued, "While I have a feeling that you're thinking something rude, I'm going to ignore that for now."
He spoke in a level tone, "Ever since your first fight with one of those icicles, you've been acting a bit out of it. Not to a worrying degree, but enough to make me curious about what's on your mind."
Einar adopted a more somber expression, "I can't help but feel nervous from all of this. A Herrscher appears that has the ability to clone herself, no matter the lessened power of those clones, and all she does is bring us out to the middles of nowhere for a pointless conversation."
The boy crossed his arms as he voiced his concerns, "Something else is going on, I just don't know what."
Kevin though for a moment, "Can Herrschers increase their power?"
His companion shook his head, "No, they can only use what they have in their cores. They can't stockpile any more than that. Although, that amount of Honkai energy is still capable of leveling the Earth's population."
The albino teen spoke after a moment's respite, "As interesting as that is, I don't think it's what's bothering you."
"Has anyone ever told you that you're only perceptive when it's annoying?"
"Just answer the question without trying to change the subject."
Einar sighed as he gave in to his friend's demands, "Have you ever thought about why we're trying to save the human race?"
Kevin's eyebrows shot up as he glanced from his view of the sky to gaze at the boy beside him.
"That's a loaded question."
He continued, "Can't say that I've ever needed to give it much thought. After all, everyone that I care about is human and I don't think Mei would be pleased if the rest of humanity died."
Einar interjected, "You're talking far more apathetically then I imagined you would."
"You asked a very apathic question, so I feel it's warranted. But what about you, I have a feeling you just wanted to contrast your own answer with mine."
"Yeah, I did..." He trailed off as the hum of the aircraft was left to fill the silence within it.
He spoke up after a short while, "Would you answer the question differently if Mei was a Honkai beast?"
Seeing where this was going, Kevin asked a question himself, "Are you in love with a Honkai beast?"
Rather than answering the question Einar smiled, "Can I take that as a proclamation of love for Mei? Want me to tell her?"
If this were about anything other than Mei, the white haired teen might have resisted the shift in conversation. Alas, it was not and so the topic shifted in Einar favor.
"Why are you so insistent on getting me in a relationship with Mei?" Kevin asked. It was something that his friend had focused on since their very first conversation after all.
The anomaly gained a bitter smile, "Because while I won't let you die, I can't guaranty that you'll make it out as you were before."
"Well, that was cryptic and not at all helpful." Was the response given to him.
Einar laughed, "Yeah, I learned from the best."
While curious, Kevin did want a response to his earlier inquiry and refused to go down a rabbit trail.
"What did you mean that I might not 'make it out as I was before'?"
"Just that."
Seeing that his companion was less than impressed with his explanation, the boy elaborated.
"Look what happened to Himeko, she was given a portion of Honkai energy to further adapt herself to combat against the Honkai. Knowing your devotion to Mei's goals, what are the odds that something similar, if not worse, will happen to you."
Kevin was quiet as he thought about those words. He would have agreed to perform the same procedure in a heartbeat if Mei had only asked, but what could that have done to his ability to contact her should that be the case.
The boy seemed to deflate as he continued, "Look, I don't want to scare you off from making any decisions like that in the future. I just want you to be able to say what you feel before you don't have the chance anymore."
It was then that Kevin put a few things together.
"Just who is the girl you fell in love with?" He asked.
Einar froze for a moment before chuckling, "Guess I was a bit careless huh?"
"Subtly isn't exactly your forte."
"You're not wrong there." The boy laughed at his own expense. "All I'm willing to say right now is that she's not a Honkai beast or a Herrscher."
Seeing that he most likely wouldn't budge on the issue Kevin asked another question, "Alright, then then tell me how old you are at least."
"Yeesh, you people really love trying to figure out my personal life..." Einar stated with no real venom in his words.
"Well, you're far easier to understand than the Honkai." Kevin explained his flimsy reasoning.
In truth, the only reason he had any suspicion at all about this topic was due to him being the confidant of a certain scientist.
"Just try not to crash this ship in shock, okay?" The boy replied.
Kevin answered, "That would kill me too, so I'll try."
"Guess that the best I'm gonna get...I'm sixty-two thousand years old."
The aircraft lurched downwards a bit.
"I though you said you would try to suspend your shock for a moment!" Einar shouted in slight panic. Sure, he had a multitude of ways to avoid the situation, but it still wasn't a pleasant feeling.
"Forgive me for expecting you to be a few centuries in age and not as old as dirt!"
Einar yelled, "Expect the unexpected!"
After the two were no longer facing imminent death the conversation resumed.
Kevin spoke first, "Did King Arthur actually live?"
"Oh, this is what we're going to? How many famous people have I met? Just because I'm old doesn't mean that I knew kings and queens."
"Old might be an understatement." Kevin replied under his breath.
Einar, having heard the remark, fired back a retort, "This just means that as your senior, you have to hold doors open for me."
"That is not happening. Ever." Kevin responded quickly.
"Awww..."
Ignoring the boy's sad remarks, Kevin continued the earlier topic, "So about King Arthur..."
"We are not doing this for the entirety of the flight."
"What about Merlin? Did he exist too?"
And so, Einar learned of his friend's, frankly surprising, interest in the heroes of myths and legends.
When they finally got back to Fire Moth base the anomaly was ready to bang his head against a wall and the albino looked strangely contemplative.
The personnel who saw the two agreed to never ask about what transpired.
After bidding a goodbye to Kevin, Einar made his way down the winding halls of the steel structure and eventually ran across a familiar red head.
"Einar! I'm so glad you're here, please let me try this out on you!" She proclaimed with a complete lack of shame while holding a large sword.
"Absolutely not." Was the immediate rejection made by the boy.
Himeko was, for some reason, shocked, "Why not?"
"The better question is why would I?! No one in their right mind would willing let themselves be a punching bag for a Honkai powered woman!"
Reason for Einar to refuse was the large white greatsword held in his captain's hand. It looked almost like a folded angel's wing and had an orange hand guard along with an orange halo around the bottom of the handle.
This might be the first time that I have ever seen a single edged greatsword, observed the boy as he stared at the blade that Himeko wanted to pierce him with.
"Okay, lets backtrack a bit. Why, do you want to use that thing on me? I know I'm more resilient than most, but I hardly consider that a valid reason."
Himeko proceeded to explain, "You see, Mei found out that she could use the Honkai energy contained within Herrscher core fragments and the Honkai containment properties of Solium to create these awesome weapons!"
She held up her sword to further prove her point.
"You make it sound like there are more." The boy pointed out.
Himeko snapped her fingers, "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you but there are more!"
She took him by the arm and dragged him to a nearby room.
Inside, many orange and white weapons hung above terminals with several persons in white coats mingled about them.
Suspended in the air hung; a pair of pistols, a sword, and even a scythe.
Conventionality was not a feature when designing these things was it, Einar thought.
He turned back to face his captain, "And you thought I would be a better candidate for using these on rather than a dummy, why?"
"Well, a dummy can't fight back." Himeko stated while looking at her subordinate as though he were stupid.
Einar brought a palm to his face, "Please mention that I can fight back to begin with."
The woman looked puzzled, "Of course you're fighting back, that way we can test two weapons at the same time."
I'm really starting to question what my role here is.
He grabbed the small sword. It was a katana with a cross guard, which was already unusual, and the blade seemed to morph into wings to cover the handle. The handle was black along with the flat of the blade and both had streaks of orange light running through the middle.
"Just note that my marksmanship is abysmal, so someone else should use the pistols." The boy warned.
"Noted." Said Himeko as her lips curved upwards, as though the thought of being able to use them amused her.
This is going to hurt, was the last thought Einar had time to make before his captain came lunging towards him.
Luckily for Einar, however, a loud noise buzzed in the device confined in the ears of the two who were about to duel.
"Tsk." Himeko clicked her tongue in annoyance.
Seeing as how Himeko was mildly upset the boy answered the alarm.
"The 5th show up again?"
A calm female voice spoke through the other end, "Yes, but this time its attacking something a city rather than simply a forested area."
Einar furrowed his brow in confusion. Why would the Herrscher decide to suddenly attack humans now? Something didn't add up.
"Where is she?" Was the simple question he asked the scientist.
She answered almost immediately, "A relatively small city in Hokkaido, just east of Mount Yōtei."
A sharp intake of breath followed the words. Einar was clenching the white sword with a force that had his knuckles resembling it in color.
"I'm leaving, now." The boy spoke in such a frigid tone that forced Mei to question for a moment whether it truly was Einar who said those words. He seemed acquainted with the place, so he should know that it was abandoned a few years before the Honkai even appeared.
The raven haired woman doubted her companion would listen to her, for reasons yet unknown, but she still had something to share with him.
"Einar."
"I'm leaving." He repeated his words in a much more forceful manor this time.
Mei sighed, the boy was quite difficult sometimes, not willing to listen to anything at all.
"Not trying to stop you. In fact, I have a gift for you." The scientist revealed.
Pausing in confusion, Einar asked, "I don't believe I've done anything worthy of the sort and it's not my birthday yet."
"Consider it an investment. You have been a quite the help as of late."
While not believing a single word that the woman had just said, Einar doubted it was anything harmful.
"Alright, where is it."
Unseen to the boy, Mei gave a small smile, "In the lab, where you usually go."
"Hmm." Einar nodded. "Thanks, Mei."
No other words were exchanged as the boy faded into an orange rimmed portal.
Next stop, Japan. Things had just become personal.
The first thing that Einar noticed upon exit from his little tear in space was how cold it was.
Upon further inspection it made sense, given the snow and frost that hung in even the air itself. The peaks of an ancient Japanese palace coated with a thick layer of frozen water.
Even the blinding rays of the afternoon sun did nothing to warm the area underneath it.
The boy walked forewords, the snow beneath his greaves crunched.
Mei's "gift" as she had called it, turned out to be a pair of Solium gauntlets and greaves. They were a dark grey with a pale gold border, nothing terribly gaudy but they still looked to be of high quality as they shone with the reflection of the sun's light.
They were perhaps the only kind of armor that Einar would wear. Full plate would slow him down to an unreasonable level but what he had would at least allow him to use him arms and legs as shields of sorts, due to the Honkai resistant properties of Solium.
A voice echoed throughout the structure, "You certainly took your time."
A young girl hopped down from her perch atop one of the roofs of the building. Colorless white hair and icy blue eyes, the 5th Herrscher without a doubt.
The boy spared nary a word for the girl, opting instead to launch a volley of sword at her.
The girl laughed as she summoned a cocoon of ice to block the blades, "I do hope you didn't expect that to hit me?"
Her haughty attitude was a far cry from that of the copies that the boy had fought. Faking a personality to fool me? Seems to be smarter than I gave her credit for, Einar thought, mildly impressed.
His attack, however, had not yet finished. The girl could no longer move due to the ice prison she had fashioned to block the sharpened metal.
With a flash of light and a burst of heat the winter shell had shattered, the Herrscher skidding away from her attacker.
The boy had created a flame within the swords that as he fed with Honkai energy, reached its breaking point and exploded in a blaze of flame and metal shards.
The girl smirked, "Now that's more like it."
She summoned a column of ice to propel herself towards the boy, a volley of frost following her in her wake.
Claws of solid ice had been crafted onto her hands as she slashed at Einar. He parried the blow and summoned a blast of wind to her into the sky.
A portal appeared behind her as she was sent straight upwards instead of her diagonal trajectory.
Einar extended an arm and then slammed it into the ground as the Herrscher was trying to create a ball of ice around her to soften her fall. As soon as the boy's hand reached the earth, the sphere fell upon the Earth with enough speed to crack it open like an egg.
The Herrscher emerged from the ensuing cloud of snow and dust with a few cuts, but nothing major.
She brushed off her shoulder as she spoke, "You're really pulling out all of the stops aren't you?"
Einar spoke for the first time during the fight, "Stop taunting me and fight." He readied his blade wreathed in tongues of tangerine flames.
"You might be trying to kill me, but I'm not. And right now, you're all alone in the middle of an abandoned country." She stretched her arms outwards to draw attention to the surrounding area.
However, Einar was paying no heed to her speech and took this opportunity. He lunged towards her at a blistering speed, one no human could hope to match. A small burst of wind tore through the nearby structures.
It was parried rather splendidly.
A large icicle had sprouted from the ground, intercepting his blade well before it struck its mark.
A clash of metal resounded.
A boy grunted in frustration, "I can't hit you."
His opponent, an older man, spoke, "If you can't hit me the first time, then keep hitting. Remember, never stop moving until you target is dead."
The boy grunted in frustration and let go of his blade. He quickly kicked on the handle and sent it hurtling towards the Herrscher where it burst into fire as soon as it neared her.
The girl held a shield she had created, before throwing it at the boy. It gained a number of spikes on its surface as a multitude of icy pillars came rushing towards Einar.
The ground gained a translucent blue hue as a small cube knocked the shield out of the air as Einar summoned several blades to block the path of the other objects. As the ice impacted his hastily constructed shield, he hardened the wind in front of him before detonating the blades in front of him.
The force of the explosion sent him flying, right at the Herrscher.
The was lifted off the ground before it flew at Einar like a cloud of iron dust. He burned it away before striking at the girl with his blade. She jumped backwards in the nick of time, the sword barely missing her abdomen.
The boy, however, took his left arm and swung it at her as well. A small blue cube flew at her from his palm, coated in flame.
Not able to move in the air quickly enough she was truck through her thigh by the object.
Thud.
The sound of a dull impact could be heard resounded throughout a clearing of trees.
A small metal star had impacted a tree after being thrown by a young boy dressed in ornate robes.
Another figure, dressed in form fitting clothing with a sword slung across his back, made his presence know the the boy.
"What are you doing Takeru?"
The boy looked up at the older male, "I'm practicing my shuriken throws. Father said that I needed to practice."
Einar contemplated for a moment, "Would you mind if I joined?"
The boy looked delighted at the prospect, "Of course not! I just hope it doesnt go as poorly as your archery lessons."
Scowling, Einar picked up a small pointed piece of metal and threw it at the tree.
As they both landed into a roll, they locked gazes while the took a few heavy breaths.
"Yes, yes YES! This is what I wanted, a fight with you at your fullest! To feel to rush of combat as we put our lives on the line in a struggle for our ideals!" The Herrscher passionately yelled out between quick breaths.
She continued, "And you love this as well don't you? After all, what else can you do but kill."
Einar remained silent as he propped himself up on his blade. Saying anything would only dig his own grave even deeper.
"You don't have to say anything. I already know you better than anyone else, you have little care for the ones you do not know. The enemy is simply a bunch of faceless soldiers, worth nothing to you."
The boy interrupted, "I would hardly consider you a faceless soldier."
The girl of ice smiled, "Exactly. And now you have one more reason to hesitate in the defense of humanity."
Standing up with labored gasps Einar asked, "What's your name?"
"Fuyu." Was the response. It wasn't said in her normal arrogant tone but one of fondness and affection.
"Okay then, Fuyu, since you seem to share so much in common with a certain someone, let me ask you this; would you side with someone who wanted to kill me?"
The woman growled out her response, "Absolutely not!" Realization dawned on her face after she spoke.
Einar nodded, "You see then, I can't help or even remain impartial to something like this."
The respite now over the Herrscher of Ice, Fuyu, stood up, "Then I guess I just have to take you by force."
"You could just retreat."
Fuyu stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter, "You would let me?" She asked incredulously.
He frowned, "You make it seem as though I like killing young girls."
After calming down she shook her head and said, "No, I can't retreat. After revealing my powers and failing to obtain you, I would prove myself rather useless."
"I see."
No more words were exchanged.
The girl lunged at Einar icy claws outstretched. He exerted his own control over ice and forced her arms out of his way by a small margin and ducked under her arm and spun around to bring his blade up against her limb.
Red hung in the air for a moment, as though time itself sought to prevent it from staining the snow, before crashing down to the dirt.
The girl clutched her arm in pain before vanishing from view.
Einar torn around frantically to search for the Herrscher. Too late as he was pierced through his stomach with a pale blue sword.
A voice whispered in his ear, "You assumed I could only freeze physical objects."
Though coughing blood, Einar smirked, "And you assumed I was still sane."
A roar echoed throughout a verdant forest.
Two boys could be seen running from the source of the roar.
The older boy yelled over the sound of crunching leaves, "Don't look!"
"At what?" Was the response from Takeru.
His inquiry was soon answered as Einar took Takeru's form in his grasp and leapt off a cliff side to their side. The winds forced the young boy's eyes shut as the two fell.
When he opened his eyes, they were floating just above the ground.
Forgetting the danger that they had just faced, his eyes sparkled, "What was that?Can you do that again? What else can you do?"
He fired off question after question after witnessing the supernatural feat.
Einar gave a small smile, "It's a secret."
The boy was too stunned by the display of emotion from his companion that he forgot to question the lackluster response.
"Hey, hey! Do that again!"
With his hand near the blade lodged in his gut, the boy used lighting on himself. His blood acted as a conductor and conveniently, Fuyu had some on her.
Her scream echoed throughout the area as electricity coursed through her veins. She released her grip on the icy blade and Einar fell to the ground.
He remembered a saying that an old friend of his used to say, whenever lightning spreads its wings, fire heeds its call.
Turning on his back to face the wounded Herrscher, Einar spoke, "I'm sorry."
A raging blade of fire launched from his hands towards Fuyu. A single chocked breath escaped her mouth as it curled into a smile.
Embers and crimson droplets rained throughout the palace outskirts for a moment, melting snow and dyeing it the color of war.
Einar fell to his back and gazed at the fading signs of winter leave the clear blue skies of Japan.
"Maybe this isn't all bad..." He trailed off as the world disappeared into the void.
The other members of Fire Moth would later arrive on scene to find a sleeping boy and a small crystal that shone with a pale blue glow.
Einar "awoke" to a familiar white void. Only this time the throne was empty.
He started to turn around before a pair of hands covered his eyes.
"Don't turn around just yet, okay?" A voice giggled behind him.
Sighing in resignation, he said, "Fine, but please don't make me regret this."
"You worry too much. It's not as though I'm going to pie at you, this time at least..." Kaguya's voice quieted towards the end of her sentence.
"I still don't know where you got the idea to do that in the first place." Einar spoke while keeping his back turned.
"Your siblings had said it was a good idea though?" The girl stated.
As powerful and old as she was, Kaguya wasn't always the greatest at determining motive.
Perhaps that's why we're in this situation to begin with, Einar mussed.
"Alright! You can turn around now." The declaration pulled the boy from his thoughts.
As he faced Kaguya, he saw she held two small bands in her dainty hands. One was a dark grey metal with a neon blue outline to it. The other was a shining silver with an outline much the same as the other, one only orange instead of blue.
Both seemed to have a small inscription on the inside. Nothing long, more of a name than anything.
"Lua's Pledge and Chivalry's Vow?"
"Yep! Since yours my knight, my ring is your vow and because of my name yours is my pledge." Kaguya spoke with a tone of pride in her creations.
When Einar first met Kaguya, she didn't have a name. So, since her name reminded him of the moon, he named her after the princess who came from there. It seemed fitting at the time and she took to it, so Einar saw no reason to come up with a different one.
There was still the matter of why she had made these rings in the first place.
She doesn't particularly care about humans, so I had thought that extended to their culture as well, Einar thought, curious of his beloved's motive.
"Pretty sure I know why, but why do we need these?" Asked the curious boy.
Kaguya's expression made it clear that she thought the answer was obvious, "To show that we're married of course."
Einar brought a palm to his forehead, "Leave it to you to show up out of the blue to create beings of mass destruction and then think we were married."
"We aren't?" The girl asked, looking as though she had found out that existence itself was a lie.
The boy took a final look at the orange ring, "Well, it's not as though I have any objections. Though people usually get married after a few years of dating and not several millennia."
Einar placed the ring on his left ring finger, as one does in this situation, and felt a strange pressure in his head. It wasn't as though it was unpleasant, quite the opposite in fact, but still very noticeable .
"What was that?" The fact that Kaguya was unaware of the presence was frankly impossible.
She turned a bit sheepish, "Aww, I was hoping to keep that a secret for now..."
Einar waited for her to continue. Keeping secrets wasn't something Kaguya usually did, baring perhaps matters related to the annihilation of humanity but that made sense. And he had a feeling this was not related to that.
True to his belief Kaguya spoke up after a moment, "It's so I can talk to you without the need of a Herrscher core."
"Couldn't you already do that?"
She shook her head, "Not if I didn't want to force you to inherit my will, like the other Herrschers."
Einar filed away that tidbit of information for a later date and continued, "Not something I'm going to complain about then, so long as you don't use that to spy on my friends."
"Why would I do that? It's not as though anything they make is dangerous."
If that came from anyone other than his, new dubbed, wife, Einar would be highly doubtful. The difference between the Herrschers and Kaguya was a large one. The former were made into creatures of Honkai, of that he had no doubt, while the latter was always Honkai. She is the will of Honkai itself, which begs the question as to why she hasn't eradicated the human race already.
Shaking himself free of such thoughts for the moment, Einar took his wife in his arms.
The girl proceeded to embrace her inner tomato, "W-w-what brought this on?"
Not that she was complaining, but her husband wasn't exactly the most frequent in his displays of physical affection.
"It's just been a while. That's all."
To be more precise, sixty-two thousand years. For all the differences in ideals the two shared, they still loved each other and that was a long time to go without seeing on another. "Long" being a criminal understatement.
So, the two sat, content to simple enjoy the lost presence.
The victor of the war hinged on the fate of these two individuals. A normal human boy and the Gestalt Will of Ho-
"Yeah really interesting, but what does a crappy love story have to do with you?"
A teen sighed, this girl was quite rude sometimes, interrupting his heartfelt story like that.
"Because I was that boy and now I want to help you. With a condition of course."
A girl with snow white hair narrowed her eyes and asked in a steely voice, "What condition?"
"Stop interrupting the story!"
Update: Just want to make my readers aware that I have added flashback scenes to the fight with Fuyu and a minor change in how the cameo at the end was handled. The decision to add this was thanks to the sagely advice of dragonngo. I agreed that the fight needed reason as to why the locale was important to Einar. I will finish the reasoning behind this in the next chapter, but I hope this makes the story more enjoyable. I did not change anything else, simply added details. This is so the story doesn't becoming confusing due to changed details in past chapters. I am aware that this chapter has its flaws. Thank you for your patience with my shenanigans!
Author's notes: "I'll get the next chapter out before Christmas." *sigh* If I could go back in time and smack myself I would. This chapter is now six days later than what I wanted it to be. SIX! I am extremely sorry, but well, Christmas sort of happened. I hope the size and quality was worth the wait, but we'll have to wait and see I suppose. Do feel free to send a PM about my stupidity. I deserve it.
But enough of my moaning, onto the chapter!
I packed a crap tone in here. I revealed Einar's age. Why is he so old? Well, it took 55,000 years for the world of Honkai Impact 3rd to progress to where it has. With the help of technologies from the Old World!
Another thing I did was create a very different Herrscher. The third saw herself as a servant of God, the fourth saw herself as a girl in love, and the fifth saw herself as a warrior. Perhaps more of a general, but the point stands. I tried to make her highly intelligent, baiting Fire Moth into a false sense of security and have them send only Einar and then anger him by attacking a place dear to him. Not sure if I did that, but I tried. Her name means Winter in Japanese in anyone is curious. MiHoYo Named the Herrscher of Wind, Windy, so I think my name will suffice.
The fight scene was difficult to say the least. I don't want there to be a monologue during the fight, but I did want some details to be revealed. My compromise was a breather during the middle of the battle, which come to think of it, sounds even stupider now that I write that down. Either way I did have Einar show off a bit more off his powers and have him show that he can combine them. In what other ways is something that will pop up very soon so stay tuned.
Romance. I have no idea what I'm doing. One thing that I hate though is when the love interests skirt around each other for the entire series. That can work if it's the main gag but otherwise it's just tedious. In my feeble attempt to avoid that, I just had them get married. I would like to think that it makes sense given what information I have revealed. If not than never fear, you can either yell at me or wait until it pops up in the story, which might be sooner than you expect.
The last thing is the teaser of things to come at the end of the chapter. Let's simply say that someone who PM'd me said that he would bust out laughing if I had Kiana interrupt a flashback. While it might not have been exactly that I added this as it does hint at plans for the future. Keep this in mind though, Kiana was in the Old World as well as the new and the New World has two Kiana's. One is actually the 2nd Herrscher, Sirin as K423, and the other is the real Kiana. So, is the Einar in the flashforward talking to the Old World Kiana or one of the two New World ones? Food for thought.
And so, 2019 comes to an end. It's kind of hard to believe that I started this thing all the way back in October on a whim and now I've got as much support from you guys as I have. Thank you all once again and Happy New Year! May your resolutions last more than three hours! (That's my personal record)
Sayonara,
The Slow White Guy