When most aircraft are built, they are often made to be capable of tolerating extreme temperatures and weather conditions. They are supposed to be capable of flying to even in the coldest regions in Antarctica or the hottest regions in the Sahara Desert or even within volcanic areas. Of course, these designs are all mostly for the outer shell of the ships. The interior though was an entirely different story.

"Warning! System Overheating!"

Rita's scythe was engulfed in flames as she tried to decapitate the Herrscher of Thunder, and apparently Ice. She had no idea where Raiden Mei had acquired another Core, as far as they knew no other Herrscher had awakened besides Wendy recently, and Kiana if the reports were correct. So where did she get this second set of powers?

The Herrscher was as nimble as lightning always right out of her grasp. Rita swung her Scythe down causing a small eruption of flames to flare up, even if Mei avoid it, she'd surely be burnt by them. However just as they appeared the flames turned to solid ice as the temperature began to drop drastically.

Rita's eyes widened as she saw Raiden appear before her, the heiress's sword glowing an icy blue before it morphed into the shape of a fan. "Soumetsu," Raiden muttered as she swiped her fan in front of her. Almost instantly three miniature blizzards formed and began swirling in front of her. Despite her flames, Rita couldn't help but tremble as dozens of small ice shards embedded themselves in her skin.

"Warning! System Temperatures dropping drastically. Risk of Icing increasing!" The ship's warning systems cried out. The electricity in the room was flickering, and Rita was positive it was affecting the other areas of the ship. As if on cue, she felt the ship jerk, throwing her off balance and right into Raiden's elbow.

"Come on maid. You can do better than that." Raiden grinned sadistically. "It's no fun if you don't put up a fight." Raiden chuckled; her breath visible in the cold obscuring portions of her face with nothing but her electrical purple eyes piercing through them. "A great woman would have killed herself using that suit to beat a Herrscher, she wouldn't have even been an S rank and she would have done a better job defeating one than your pathetic hide." Mei snarled.

She was starting to feel very familiar emotions bubbling in her system. She was back in her own world she had seen the footage that the others had captured on Himeko's last fights. She had used the Vermillion Knight to beat down HoV but she died in the process. She had died fighting against HoV with that suit and that gem.

The first time she saw Void use the flames of Haste, it had been like a slap in the face to Thunder. It was a mockery of Himeko's final fight. An insult to their teacher's last stand. Not only had she taken Kiana's body, but she had used Himeko's final flames as her own sort of trophy. Of course, over time Thunder had grown to accept that perhaps Himeko did acknowledge Void as a potential successor. That didn't change the fact that the first time she wanted to tear the Void Herrscher limb from limb for that act. In a sense it was also why Thunder ensure to take the power of ice, to perfectly counter the flames.

Seeing Rita in the armor, Thunder had expectations of the Maid. They were lower expectations granted that Thunder knew this was from an earlier time, but she still had some expectations for the 'superior' S-rank Valks. Sadly, Rita didn't meet them.

"Pathetic." Thunder mocked as she sidestepped another attack. She countered with a forceful push charged with her Honkai energy. The next thing Rita knew she was embedded into a wall and iced over. Thunder half expected her to thaw out and return to the fight.

"Come on." Thunder muttered. "Make this worth my time." She told the maid. Her words fell on deaf ears.

"Wait…are you serious? That's it." She groaned.

The Herrscher had won against Otto's forces and their secret weapon had been neutralized for now. Yet the Herrscher could only scold as she looked at the Maid.

"How was I ever so terrified of her? Was I really that weak back then?" Thunder wondered as she looked at the frozen, immobilized form of Rita. She held up a hand and called the gem towards her. It left Rita in a haste moving quickly towards its new master. Thunder held it as she took in its red glow.

"Do you plan on taking it for yourself?" Kurikara questioned through their link.

"It's tempting, but I wonder if I should." Thunder wondered.

"Would it not be useful in your fights against the Void Herrscher?" Kurikara questioned.

"Eh, I prefer having an original set of powers to her," Thunder answered. "But that's not my main concern. If left unchecked this gem can cause trouble. The Honkai or World Serpent or even Otto can make it into something very troublesome for our younger selves to deal with." She mused.

"You don't think that's a bad thing." Kurikara rationalized.

"Back then I had the Herrscher of the Void as my main motivation for growing stronger, and even now she still is, but we stopped HoV from existing in this world. If HoV no longer exists then how or why would they get stronger, they still have Himeko and Theresa to help carry their weight. They haven't experienced the same kind of pain needed to force them to mature. In trying to save them we might have doomed them instead."

"You wish to make them stronger by making them suffer losses."

"Don't be ridiculous Kurikara." Mei's answer was quick and forceful. "I have no intention to hurt them, nor do I wish to cause such feelings to appear. As it stands, I am merely making an observation. They need a reality check. After today I don't think I will allow them to be coddled, not by myself or by Void, and certainly not by you."

"Me?"

"Kurikara I know you. I intend to introduce you to them, and I am absolutely positive you'd bow to Raiden Mei if I leave you alone with them." Thunder smiled at the dragon.

"Well, to serve my lady in every timeline, that is my goal," Kurikara responded. "But I am loyal to you first and foremost, and no other Mei in time and space can make me refute that loyalty."

"You are too good a dragon for me." Thunder chuckled. "Let's head back, but first…." Thunder lifted up the Gem of Haste and closed her eyes. She concentrated and focused on the energy within herself and the energy within the Gem. There was a brief flash and Thunder opened her eyes once more. The Gem now had a tinge of purple to it. "I'll be honest I always wondered why the fire gem wasn't named conquest and the lighting gem named haste. Seems kind of strange since the reverse makes so much sense." Thunder pondered as she tossed the Gem on the floor.

"Hopefully that will work for them."

Himeko sighed as she walked out to one of the more private rooms on the Hyperion. She had given Kiana and Mei some time to cool themselves off after they ate, and the teacher figured it would be best to leave them to relax till Bronya woke up. She was surprised though when she found the Herrscher of the Void throwing back a can of beer, as she lay against a wall with a pair of headphones. For the most part, Himeko was half tempted to leave the girl alone and go but her eyes noticed something rather disturbing.

The Herrscher had quite a number of cans piled up. Himeko would have assumed she was just being messy but upon standing a few seconds longer, the Herrscher had practically inhaled three more cans and was moving on to another one. Even if the red-haired liked to drink to help ease the stress of the job, she knew that Herrscher's power or not, was a problem, and despite their disagreements, this Herrscher was still her student.

"You got any to spare," Himeko asked as she walked into the room. The Herrscher opened one eye to see her, and a frown formed on her lips. Void sighed as she took off her headphones and rested them on her neck.

"I should have known you wouldn't just walk back out," Void noted as she warped a can to Himeko's hand. Before Himeko could speak further another set of portals formed and all the empty cans were removed from the area. "What brings you here, or did you just smell the beer and come." The Herrscher joked.

"I don't think you can make jokes about my drinking habits when you were buried in a pile of empty cans, not more than a few minutes ago," Himeko noted.

"Doesn't matter how much I drink; I physically can't get drunk. My body burns through the alcohol as easily as yours can use air." Void explained. "You on the other hand can get damage to your liver, your kidneys, and your brains. Quite frankly given the job, I sort of understand why you wouldn't bother, why care about long-term health risks when you could die the next day to some monster."

"I suppose that's how it is," Himeko noted. "Still, I suppose there must be some reason why you drink so much. I can't imagine you doing this purely because you're bored."

"I blame the Gem of Haste." Void rationalized. "It's always had an annoying voice ringing in my head."

"The Gem of Haste, that's one of Sirin's gems, right? So, it talks to you." Himeko noted. "Sound likes it must be trouble." Himeko pondered.

"Eh, you get used to it. It's certainly better than hearing….Ya…no…I'm not going to say it. That scammer gets enough attention as it is." Void mumbled to herself.

"I'm sorry what."

"Don't worry about it. It's nothing important." Void told her. "As I was saying the Gem of Haste isn't a problem. Surprisingly its probably one of my more preferred Gems." Void admitted as she materialized the red jewel in her hand. "I've always had a complicated relationship with fire. I've been traumatized probably twice over by two powerful fire-wielding maniacs, and I've ironically been helped by those same two fire-wielding maniacs." Void smiled in amusement.

"I take it one of them is your dad and his infamous Judgement of Shamash." Himeko reasoned.

"Yup and the other is you." Void mused.

"Me?"

"Look I know Thunder and I are not all sunshine and rainbows like those girls. We don't believe in fighting or aspiring to be heroes like we used to. Things were hard for us, a lot of people died. Just like I told Aunt Teri, we lost many people including you on our mission to defend humanity." Void sighed. "We just don't want to risk losing anymore."

Himeko looked at the Herrscher of the Void. The face of Kiana overlaps with Void. She remembered the bright cheerful girl who was so full of hope existing before. Now all she could see was a broken warrior sitting before her. For all the power Void and Thunder may have boasted about, they were traumatized individuals in the end. Strong as they may be as Herrschers, mentally they were just like anyone else, and they had limits. Limits that had already been reached.

"You sound like you've given up hope," Himeko whispered.

"That's a debatable topic." A spoke, spooking Himeko. The red-haired immediately turned around to meet the future of Raiden Mei, Thunder. The other time traveler didn't seem to pay Himeko much attention as she went and took a seat next to Void, who summoned another can for her friend to drink. Thunder surprisingly didn't seem to have any snarky words for Void, nor did Void have any for her.

"How's Otto's forces?" Void questioned as she cast a glance at Himeko.

"All alive, all still capable of using all four limbs." Thunder admitted as she opened the can. "I did run into Rita and apparently she was using the Vermillion Knight suit." Thunder informed.

"You stomped her."

"Her flames were far too cold for me." Thunder chuckled.

"When this is over let's go a few rounds, I'm sure I can cremate you in a few seconds." Void chided.

"You'll suffer freezer and electric burns before you even make me sweat."

"Are you too always like this?" Himeko questioned as she looked at the two. On the surface, they were talking about practically maiming each other but there seemed to be some playful banter under it like was more of a competition to them.

"Yup." Void and Thunder answered in unison.

"Okay." Himeko would leave this topic for another time, possibly never. On second thought maybe she should switch back the conversation. "So, about what you said earlier? What do you mean it's debatable?"

"Well, we don't have much hope for our world," Thunder answered. "We're traveling through time and space now, helping ourselves, both us and our counterparts."

"We're also looking for a new World to call home," Void answered.

"But your old world is still intact right?" Himeko questioned. "It's not like the whole world ended and you have nowhere else to go."

"That depends on how you define the world," Void answered.

"If you mean the planet and the people, then yes, they are alive. However, a person's world is neither of those, it's the people they know, the people they love." Thunder told her.

"My world died when my final family member passed away, with Bella, you, Aunt Teri, and Dad gone, I had no reason to stay." Void grimaced.

"What about Bronya?"

"Bronya and I aren't on the best of terms," Void admitted. "Don't get me wrong, I don't hate her, but after what she did…. I can't quite exist in the same space as her." Void admitted. "I have no issues with Bronya in any other world or time so don't worry, I'm not going to pick any fights with your version."

"Bronya still has her reasons to stay, we respected that and left her to it," Thunder told Himeko. "As for me, my world was crumbling when I awoke with these powers, as time went on, it just crumbled further."

"I know I'll never understand what you two went through, but surely there is a better way of going about this. Like in some way I get that it might seem noble that you two are helping others with their problems but you two are running from your own."

"Himeko, we don't have the same kind of problems you think we do, because we don't have anything," Void explained. "Everyone we cared about is gone."

"Just because people are gone, that doesn't mean you two should lose hope," Himeko told them. "I know, I've been there."

"We know," Void answered. "We know about your dad, but we also know about the assault squad you were a part of," Void muttered under her breath. Himeko felt Void's words cut her far more than the Herrscher's lances ever did. "Himeko, I know what I'm responsible for and you have to be one of the most forgiving persons in the world because we both know how that mission truly ended."

"She's not wrong." Thunder admitted. "I'm actually envious at how forgiving you were, had I been like you perhaps I'd have walked a different path."

"I've already given Mei this talk." Himeko snapped. "If you think you can run away because you're guilty of what happened back then, then you're wrong. You two are far stronger than this."

"Aunty Himeko…do you want to know how you died?" Void asked. Thunder called Void to be silent, but the Herrscher merely pressed a finger on her friend's lips. "Do you?" Void repeated.

"Does it matter?" Himeko scoffed. "I've been at death's door ever since I got my stigma but that doesn't mean I will stop living my life. I assume I die out in the field fighting a Honkai Beast or a Herrscher."

"Close…. you died fighting the Herrscher of the Void…. you died fighting me," Void answered before pausing. "No, you died saving me." She corrected. "Or rather saving your student. You pushed yourself, you broke, and you just barely managed to bring us back from rage and vengeance that almost consumed us." Void told her.

"So, I would have died a few days from now." Himeko wondered.

"Yup."

"I don't regret it," Himeko admitted. "To save my student, I'd gladly pay that price."

"Yes, we're very aware of that." Thunder admitted. "But that's the point of why we do what we do. We already lost everything; we don't want others to lose as we did." She whispered. "This is the hope we have now."

"To end our story the way we want." Void repeated. "Why waste away trying to salvage what's already a lost cause? If something keeps breaking, do you keep trying to fix it, or do you go and find a replacement, and when you replace it, don't you take more care to avoid it breaking?"

"Even if it means making your younger selves hate you." Himeko sighed as she looked at the two.

"Do you think we care if Kiana or Mei hate us?" Thunder questioned. "So long as you all can live a happy life, who cares if they hate us to death? Kiana can hate me all she wants, so long as she is still breathing, I'm satisfied, I can live with that."

"Are you two even truly living then?" Himeko questioned.

"You think we aren't?"

When Herrschers are born, there is always lots of death involved. The Second Eruption caused by Sirin devasted the world and took Cecilia among many others away. The Third Eruption took Nagazora its toll. The Fourth Eruption would have taken Himeko and many others in its wake as well. Perhaps it took pieces of the Herrschers as well.

"We live for ourselves and do what we want."

"What we want is to ensure that our other selves don't lose and that those who were robbed of life get the chances they deserve. We don't care about humanity, we don't care about the masses of faceless people in the crowd, people who might barely know we even exist. We care about the people right around us." Thunder explained.

"You two." Himeko sighed. It was clear they were as stubborn if not more so than before.. "Very well I won't press this further."

"If you think we're forcing ourselves into a corner Himeko, you are wrong," Void admitted. "The things we've seen, and some of the places we've been."

"The journey's been fun. For as bad and as messed up as life has gotten, we've had the opportunity to see some of the better futures out there." Thunder added.

"Even so…one day you two should return home and make amends," Himeko admitted. "How can you fix others when you yourselves are broken?"

"Hehe…still trying to teach us." Void chuckled.

"As big and as powerful as you two may be, you are still going to be my students, whether you like it or not," Himeko told them. "Though I hope you two will try and be more tolerable and kinder to your younger selves.

"Major." Thunder muttered.

"Please," Himeko whispered.

"Fine…. but I suppose we should warn them more about what's coming. They do need a reality check and I may have done some things to give it to them early." Thunder admitted.