A/N: Thanks to everyone reading the previous chapter, leaving a follow, favorite and review. But also special thanks to my new beta for this story, Darklord331 who has done this chapter and the previous too, so hopefully it allows for a better reading experience.
Now before the chapter there is one review I couldn't send a PM to.
Jay: Well Clovis has something of a role, but Lelouch was right to suspect he couldn't have pulled that off on his own. Someone behind the scenes took advantage of it to help him and Nunnally, but the question is who could've had the authority and means to help them?
True Sirin and Lelouch are both victims of events beyond their control, but what paths it put them on is the difference through.
True I suppose Mei and Lelouch could work, provided how much of an obstacle Kiana could be, and will they meet before Elysia or someone else claims Lelouch first?
Now that is done on with the chapter.
Chapter 3
The Nightmare of Iwaki
Miles from the town she had been at, a portal opened atop the roof of a collapsed skyscraper; the building was once one of many tall buildings in the city of Iwaki of the Fukushima Prefecture. Being a city with more than one port, it was targeted by the Britannians as it was one of many such cities they seized, sending in their air force and navy to bomb the city, eliminating any potential resistance while clearing the way for transports to land to deploy troops to establish a landing zone.
All this without any regard for civilian casualties.
As the Britannians began surging into the city to secure the area and clean out any resistance, Sirin emerged from the portal she had created. Sirin took a moment to examine herself, unaware of the warzone she had arrived in or the male host she possessed. Her mind was shocked and alarmed by the body she was inhabiting; she knew it wasn't hers, but now that she had a moment to examine it.
What is this body? Why am I in a BOY's body!?
Sirin's thoughts were interrupted when she felt the other presence within her current host fighting her for control; the original owner of this body wasn't capable of struggling against her, but this other persona awoke simultaneously as she was different. She allowed a howl of rage to escape the lips of her host before she regained her composure, having reasserted control…for now.
I don't have just one occupant in this body, but two fighting me for control, Sirin thought.
What has been working in her favor is that the other two occupants have exhausted themselves when they fight one another, leaving them with little strength to seize Lelouch's body from her. For now, Sirin had control, but she couldn't let her guard down. However, she did sense her core someplace else, but whichever body it was in was currently asleep. Sirin couldn't awaken it, meaning something or someone was keeping the current host of her core in deep slumber.
She could trace the connection linking the core within her current host to her true core, sensing her consciousness had used the connection to seize control of Lelouch's body.
But she couldn't use the connection to locate her core and the body it lay within, not while she had to contend with two personas fighting her for control of the host.
I don't have time for this, so I'll need to win one of them over to gain sufficient control over this body for my purposes, Sirin thought.
Entering the mindscape of her host, Sirin entered a space where she saw two children fighting; it was a battle of wills. The first boy, Lelouch, looked exactly as he did, but the other boy, while identical, was very different. His skin was chalk white, as was his hair, and his eyes were red while dressed in the same clothes; he clearly had a malevolent air around him.
Her own form was of her original human appearance before her awakening as a Herrscher, a fourteen-year-old girl with waist-length purple hair and yellow eyes wearing a long hospital gown made of white cloth.
The fight looked like two boys locked in a schoolyard fight, but the white-skinned Lelouch was clearly the more physical of the two who managed to force Lelouch onto the ground beating him with repeated punches to the face. But no matter how much of a beating Lelouch took against his albino doppelganger, he stubbornly persisted.
When Lelouch forced his albino doppelganger off of him, Sirin made her move. With a simple gesture, Sirin's subspace lances appeared above them before pinning each of the warning personas within Lelouch, leaving the two warning personas unable to move.
"Now that I got your attention," Sirin began, having little patience for small talk. "I require assistance in reclaiming my body. Help me locate it, and I shall leave while giving my help to one willing to gain control of this body."
"What do you plan to do once you have your body back? Kill us once our usefulness is used up?" Lelouch demanded, while his albino counterpart was quiet before he grinned maliciously.
"I just want to destroy everything that threatens me and Nunnally, Britannia, Japan, all of it," Lelouch's darker albino counterpart declared.
"Perhaps you and I can work together more easily," Sirin said, seemingly settling on aiding the albino persona within Lelouch.
Snapping her fingers, the lances around the albino Lelouch shattered.
"I'll help you gain control over this body; in exchange, I can use it to find my body to reclaim it," Sirin said, approaching the albino boy.
"That's it?" The albino inquired.
"That's it," Sirin replied. "I have no desire to be in this body no more than I have to be."
"Being in a boy's body is that uncomfortable for you?" The white-skinned Lelouch inquired with a chuckle.
"Very much so," Sirin replied, deeply angered by the perceived insult.
"And I'll gain control over this body?"
"Yes," Sirin answered.
"Alright, fine, I'll help you," the albino version of Lelouch said in eager agreement.
"You're agreeing to her deal just like that?" Lelouch snapped at his doppelgänger.
"One, it would be two less people contending for this body, so yes!" The pale-skinned Lelouch replied, causing the body's rightful owner to seethe in anger.
"I'll leave you pinned down so you can have some control; now I just need to focus…." Sirin was saying, but something happening outside drew her attention.
Outside, the building the possessed Lelouch was standing upon was being hit by artillery shelling, which drew Sirin's notice. Despite winning control of the harbor and much of the city's coastline, Britannia continued their bombardments, leading to enormous casualties.
This didn't matter to Sirin, but already angry for several reasons and gaining an idea at the same time.
"Annoying insects," Sirin spat.
When the artillery shells from the battleships and destroyers in the harbor were going to hit Sirin. With a gesture, dozens of portals opened, catching every artillery shell indirectly aimed toward her before closing those portals and reopening them above their source. The crews of the warships in the harbor barely had a chance to react, let alone comprehend what had just happened before the ships they were upon were destroyed by their own artillery.
But Sirin wasn't done, choosing this time to vent her anger upon the besieged city.
Dozens of portals, close to a hundred, opened around the city at a snap of Sirin's fingers; within moments, hordes of Honkai Beasts began to flood the city consisting of Chariot and Templar-class beasts. A different kind of Honkai Beast joined the attacking horde, a winged Honkai creature called an Archangel-class. Another Honkai beast, a Knight-type, a humanoid Honkai Beast mounted upon a horse-like creature armed with a lance-like weapon.
"What the hell are those things!" A Britannian piloting a Glasgow Knightmare Frame declared, seeing the approaching horde of Honkai Beasts as they surged through the devastated city.
"Ask questions later; open fire!" The commanding office aboard his own Glasgow ordered.
Unfortunately, their bullets only inflicted moderate damage; it did little to slow them down, only being lucky in killing a few. The army of Honkai Beasts continued their charge; almost nothing could stop them; they knocked aside anything that could impede their path, including abandoned cars and debris.
"Use chaos grenades!"
Hurling small grenades into the air where they activated, releasing a spread of high-speed shrapnel upon the advancing Honkai, some of the Archangel-types flying low died, and some of the Knight-types were slain. Still, the Templar ones continued their charge while the Chariot types were lightly wounded.
"What the hell? Those were our best weapons, and we barely killed any of them!" One pilot said, beginning to panic.
Even for each Honkai Beast they managed to kill, they were quickly replaced with a new one as the numbers of the rampaging horde grew. The Britannians were forced to retreat to the new landing base they had been building to fortify their defenses, especially with the loss of the warships protecting their transports. Many Britannians began preparing to flee the doomed city. Still, as for the lingering Japanese, civilians, police, and military that had come to fight, the Britannians didn't have such options.
The remaining civilians in the city began fleeing while what remained of the city's police force and the military that had arrived to aid the city's defense were now contending with the Honkai swarming Honkai Beasts.
"What are those!"
A lone Japanese policeman using his service weapon to fight back against the approaching Templar-class, his bullets harmlessly bounced off its silicon-body, noticed humanoid figures approaching from behind.
"No, get away from that thing it…."
The policeman's voice trailed off as he saw the people behind the Honkai Beast were zombies. The city had become flooded with Honkai Energy, converting the dead and dying from Britannia's invasion into zombies, as those who died had their bodies heavily mutated and reanimated. Unable to handle the zombies and realizing his gun was useless against the Honkai beasts, he got into his vehicle before trying away to flee.
He didn't notice the pink lines appearing on his arm before creeping up his arm toward his neck.
Meanwhile, the Britannians were trying to fight off the advancing Honkai beast; despite their numbers and the weapons they had, it was becoming increasingly clear they would run out of ammunition long before the horde of Honkai Beasts was driven back. But seeing the dead rise up, however, had disheartened many of the Britannians' soldiers, causing them to plead with their commanders to order a retreat.
"Commander, we are losing ground against these…creatures? We can't hold the line; there are just too many of them, and our weapons have little effect on them!" An officer in a mobile command base said, arguing with his superior.
"We crushed the Japanese Navy and its Airforce, and you expect us to run away with our tails between our legs from some out-of-control Japanese bio-weapon?!"
"Sir, with all due respect, I don't think the Japanese made these creatures? Those things have been indiscriminate, and now the dead are rising!"
"Just…just some bio-weapon that went wrong, but no matter…we are not running!"
The other officers in the mobile command center exchanged looks before one nodded, drawing his pistol.
"Sorry, sir," The officer replied before shooting his commander, putting a bullet into his forehead. "Order a careful withdrawal, have our Knightmare Frames cover our soldiers as we retreat to the transport ships."
Unseen by the officers in the room, the commander's dead body quickly turned pale, but it wasn't becoming a zombie. Thanks to his body's high resistance to Honkai energy, it was soaking in the large amounts of Honkai Radiation in the area, causing the body to rapidly mutate into a Honkai Beast. The officers were caught entirely off guard by what had happened, and their deaths only led to chaos spreading through the Britannian ranks.
Hovering high in the sky above the city, watching the Honkai outbreak rapidly consume the city before spreading beyond the city.
The man was in his early twenties with shoulder-length red hair and a fair skin complexion, but the prominent features that made him stand out were his elf-like ears and his eyes. His eyes were black and his irises red, but his pupils were glowing red diamond-like shapes. His attire consisted of a purple cape draped around himself with an attached shoulder cape, a black Mao suit with black dress slip-on shoes, black gloves on his hands, and integrated controls within each glove's palms.
He coldly stared at the destruction unfolding around him; a burning anger was just simmering below the surface, using the open palm of one hand to display a pair of holographic screens.
"What a fucking mess this day has been," the man said with barely restrained fury. "It's bad enough that someone triggered Prometheus's reaction leading to the Flame Chasers awakening and escaping, but then Sirin gets loose. I didn't expect that would happen, but…"
His eyes scanned the read-outs displayed before him, causing him to calm down somewhat.
"This will reveal the Honkai to the world, but I should thank Sirin later. Her actions have purged more of Japan's population of those lacking sufficient Honkai Resistance and failing to awaken a Stigmata." The man mused to himself as he sighed. He was still angry, but if there was one good thing he could claim that happened today, his task of purging Japan's population of those with the genetic deficiencies that would interfere with his end goal had just been made easier. "I suppose it was only a matter of time before the world would've found out, the timing is slightly inconvenient at best, but I'll just make do with it. Maybe I can speed up my plans to offset today's setbacks."
Suddenly a light on one of his holographic screens drew his attention; pushing a button on his gloved hand, a young woman appeared on the screen with brown hair and blue eyes wearing a black uniform.
"Forgive me for troubling you, Director, but our men in the field have been inquiring about how to proceed with sterilizing Japan's deficient population?"
Director Nathanial took a moment to contemplate before replying.
"Nothing has changed; stick to normal operating procedures. Eliminate those who do not have a stigma and sufficiently high Honkai resistance. Ensure those with a stigma and high Honkai resistance survive, but we can expand our operation thanks to Sirin's actions. I can unleash a horde of Honkai Beasts upon any areas where sterilization is difficult to achieve with our insiders in the Britannian Army. Operation Elysian must continue without delay, and with Sirin the first major Honkai Eruption in the last two hundred years, we can make the most of it."
"Understood, Director, but what of the escaped Flame Chasers?" The woman asked, abet reluctantly.
"I'll deal with them, which means it's time for me and my old teacher to meet again. Nothing can escape me on my Earth."
"What of Sirin, sir?"
"Eleanor and Elysia should be more than sufficient, but I'll intervene if necessary," Nathanial replied as the woman bowed her head before ending the call. "After all, I still need Sirin alive for the war I plan to wage on that old pathetic excuse of a planet that other Earth is, and most importantly, she has a deal to fulfill with me."
Looking at the chaos below one last time, ground zero of the first major Honkai Eruption in hundreds of years since the Age of Revolution. He could sense Sirin had fled the area, likely having deduced where her new body was located since it possessed her original core. Still, he had included a copy of the Herrscher Core of Domination intended for another purpose.
He didn't expect Lelouch's emotional state to awaken Sirin's consciousness prematurely and use the link between the cores to seize control of Lelouch's body even with her original Herrscher Core within the new body he had been growing for her.
I hadn't finished restoring her body to its original age when she died, but it is finished enough for her to inhabit. I'll just need to be ready to intervene if she is in danger of being killed because recreating bodies to revive the dead is a costly and time-consuming affair, Nathanial thought.
Around the same time, Sirin exited a portal, reaching where she was sure her body was. It was an underground base located miles up the coast from the city of Iwaki. Built and hidden from the world for more than a thousand years, it was one of many similar bases used by the Heron organization, serving having research laboratories, the means to observe the local population near the base, and a dock for vessels like the Second Chance entered via a concealed underwater tunnel.
The interior of the base, befitting its design and the technology, was more advanced than anything Lelouch had seen, easily surpassing Britannia's level of technology. The interior walls were white like the ship Second Chance with equally polished and smooth metal floors, all streamlined.
However, Sirin didn't care for how the base looked and was only concerned with finding her body.
My body is near, Sirin thought.
The facility was oddly deserted; likely, its personnel must've been warned she was coming. Walking through the halls in her possessed body, Sirin closed in on her body and her original Herrscher Core within it.
Until she came upon a vault-like door, with a computer terminal aside it with the text displayed upon it saying, Time Bubble Activated, Do not interrupt.
Ignoring the warning, Sirin used her abilities, lances, and portal-making abilities to crave her way through the heavily armored doors, breaking the time bubble.
I see, so it was that bubble that wasn't just making it difficult to pinpoint my body's exact location; even trying to open a direct portal to it failed, Sirin thought, deducing why her portal opened a short distance away from her intended destination.
With the bubble gone and the vault-like door in ruins, Sirin walked inside.
At the heart of the small room, surrounded by various terminals and consoles, including equipment, was a nutrient-filled tube with the body of a ten-year-old girl inside. Her purple hair floated in the nutrient-filled substance while the body was dressed in a black full-body suit, with purple wires running along the suit's surface. Various cables were attached to the suit feeding it necessary nutrients and working with the suit to stimulate the muscles to help in their development. A pair of thick cables ran into the body's nose and mouth to provide air and easy-to-digest food, leaving no waste.
"It's younger, but no matter, time to release it," Sirin said before locating the main terminal.
Accessing the terminal, Sirin began searching the system for the means to release her body. She could destroy the tube containing it, but she didn't want to risk any potential harm to her body as eager as she was to free it.
But as she searched the database within the terminal to learn how to release her body and awaken it, Sirin discovered some interesting facts.
"I see he didn't just recreate my body," Sirin said, intrigued. "He enhanced it; my new body has been melded with modified Honkai genes from a beast called Parvati to weather the flames of Siegfried's weapon, Asura, for the flames to counter ice and provide perfect body temperature control allowing for easy adaption and nullify any unwanted side effects from Parvati's genes."
Reading further, the process was regarded as Meta-Morph Surgery, the notes left made a mention the process was done when Sirin's recreated body was in the embryonic stage, and the enhancements provided by the genes would grow stronger over time.
But as interesting as it was to know her body would be far stronger and capable of matching the man who had bested her, Sirin had found the means to release her body from containment. Activating the process, the tube was drained as mechanical arms, which had helped move the new body's limbs to aid in stimulating muscles, holding the body upright.
Pushing a switch, the wires connected to the body suit were rapidly disconnected as the possessed Lelouch closed his eyes, and Sirin's new body opened her eyes.
Using her right hand, Sirin removed the cables in her nose and mouth, gagging as she did so.
Lelouch, meanwhile, was seemingly under the control of the hostile personality born within him, as his eyes were different from his normal eye color. Sirin walked out of the room, testing her new body while trying to adjust to it as it was literally brand new in every sense of the word. But more than that, it felt much stronger than her old body.
Suddenly a familiar set of chains tried to ensnare her the moment she left the vault; Sirin could sense their appearance just in time, allowing her to evade them before summoning six sub-space lances behind her.
"I missed," Eleanor said, stepping into view with Elysia, the latter armed with an unusual-looking bow of black, purple, and white material.
"It just shows she was on guard," Elysia mused.
"Of course, I was on guard; you likely knew where I was going, so you waited in ambush until I left Lelouch's body?" Sirin quickly deuced.
"Yes, because Lelouch has a sister; she would be most upset if anything happened to him," Elysia replied cheerfully.
"You think you two could beat me?" Sirin asked mockingly, feeling confident with her new body.
"Yes, we can!" Eleanor declared as she opened her hands, materializing a pair of white-transparent handguns in both hands.
Eleanor was the first to make a move as she rushed Sirin firing her newly materialized handguns, which, instead of bullets, fired projectiles akin to small fireballs. Sirin waved her hand, unleashing a wave of flame to counter the flaming projectiles coming at him, with the two attacks canceling each other out, resulting in an explosion. Elysia readied her bow, but instead of arrows, she used her own power to create arrows of energy before letting them fly.
Sirin counterattacked with sub-space lances, but Elysia was ready for them. She shot them down within seconds, and each arrow fired was quickly replaced and launched again. The arrows pierced their targets, shattering the sub-space lances, but Sirin's counterattack was followed up with spears of ice being launched at them as the smoke from the earlier explosion cleared. Sirin had adapted very quickly to the abilities her new body offered.
Using her bow, Elysia skillfully batted away the ice spears while dodging others. Eleanor did the same but shot down the remaining spears with her two projected handguns.
I'll need to take this to a more open space. Otherwise, these insects will box me in, Sirin thought, as fighting a battle like this in a small room put her at a disadvantage.
Not to mention those binding chains would drain her of her strength if they grabbed her, so Sirin was forced onto the defensive.
Little did Sirin know, the attacks were a diversion as chains of binding made their way through the ventilation system before erupting from the ceiling above Sirin. She barely realized the danger, using newly conjured sub-space lances to defend against them while fighting to evade them by jumping to the sides and then rolling away before jumping back onto her feet. Raising both hands, Sirin unleashed a blast of fire and ice, meeting in the middle, creating an explosion that blanketed the room in a fog of steam. Using the chance to escape and move the battle to someplace where she would have room to maneuver more freely.
"She ran off!" Elysia said, chasing her in pursuit, with Eleanor following.
Sirin reached an enormous cavern while Elysia and Eleanor were not far behind. She could've escaped using a portal, but knowing Eleanor could use powers similar to hers could still pursue her. Furthermore, if Sirin ignored them now, they could be dangerous to her. She would never again ignore potential threats, recalling the mistakes that led to her demise.
I'll ambush the fools here! Sirin thought, planning to lie in ambush and attack after unleashing Honkai Beasts against them as a diversion.
Just as Sirin was about to lay out her plan, a small voice behind her spoke.
"What you did to my brother wasn't very nice!"
Sirin turned around and saw Nunnally, but she was standing in front of a pile of crates.
"Taking possession of your brother was hardly my choice, insect!" Sirin said before using a sub-space lance to kill Nunnally before walking away without bothering to confirm the kill; she was just a mere human.
"Maybe, but using him as you wiped out that city. That was your choice," Nunnally scolded, disapproving of Sirin's actions while possessing her brother.
Turning around, Sirin was surprised to see Nunnally was still standing but completely unharmed.
Sirin was stunned, wondering if it was some kind of trick.
"I don't have time for this insect!" Sirin snapped, knowing Elysia and Eleanor would be here soon.
Unleashing all her sub-space lances upon Nunnally, Sirin watched in shock as the lances harmlessly passed through Nunnally. However, one lance struck a trio of barrels behind Nunnally, revealed to be liquid Sakuradite, which in its raw form was highly explosive. And an exposed sparking wire from the floor broken by one of Sirin's earlier spears ignited the sakuradite.
The explosion sent Sirin flying back as much of the enormous hangar was engulfed in the resulting explosion, setting much of it on fire. However, the sensors in the hanger detected the explosion, triggering the activation of the emergency fire suppression system. Silver sphere-shaped drones were deployed, praying an expanding white foam over the flames, which had the fire extinguished in moments.
Besides her attire being lightly damaged by the blast, Sirin was unharmed from the explosion. On the other hand, Nunnally was surprised by the barrels of sakuradite left out in the open.
"I've seen your tricks like yours before; you aren't here!"
"I am still new to this, but I think I can do more than this. I don't know how, but I just feel it," Nunnally admitted looking down at her hands.
"So your brother wasn't the only one to awaken as a Herrscher, but what do you think you can do to me?"
"Distract you," Nunnally replied honestly.
Suddenly a dome of pink crystal materialized, trapping Sirin inside; Elysia had caught up to them. Releasing an empowered arrow, it entered the dome before splitting into dozens of smaller arrows, ricocheting off its interior walls. Sirin was going to open portals to catch Elysia's arrows to redirect them back at her, but something closed her portals as she opened them. The arrows stuck their mark, but none of them were fatal, yet the blunted design of the arrows struck with enough force to leave Sirin battered and knocked around in the air.
While sent into the air by Elysia's barrage of ricocheting arrows, she saw someone nearby.
It was Lelouch, a very furious Lelouch who had not only regained control over his body and was using his Herrscher abilities to negate Sirin's powers, such as closing the portals she made due to sharing what was technically the same Herrscher core.
A defiant Sirin recovered in mid-air before landing on her feet, but Eleanor's binding chains erupted from the ground seizing her as she landed.
"I got her!" Eleanor shouted triumphantly as the chains had successfully bound Sirin.
Unfortunately for her, Lelouch wasn't done.
"She isn't getting off that easy for what she did through my body," Lelouch snapped with righteous fury, recalling how Sirin doomed a whole city to death by unleashing hordes of Honkai Beasts upon it.
The deaths of the Britannian soldiers might've been one thing, but what enraged him more was the loss of civilian life; none deserved to die.
Lelouch sent a sub-space lance flying for Sirin's head, neither Elysia nor Eleanor could react in time to stop it, but…
Less than an inch from Sirin's face, the lance stopped.
"You're welcome for saving my life," Nathanial said, making his presence known, appearing behind the restrained Sirin.
"YOU," Sirin snapped with a mixture of anger and a small amount of fear, realizing she could not move her body yet still speak.
"Good to see you too," Nathaniel said mockingly before sighing.
Looking around, Sirin noticed that time was frozen, but this wasn't the first time she experienced this power he had.
"You were too hasty, Sirin, the new body I made from scratch for you is much stronger than your older one, but it's no different than that of a newborn," Nathaniel said, his voice full of disapproval. "You must've noticed how sluggish it was; it wasn't combat-ready. Still, you did well keeping up with my disciple and Elysia, a hardened veteran of the Previous Era and one of the most powerful Herrschers. She could've ended the battle quickly if she wanted to, but she agreed to see you taken alive."
"I won't be your lab rat?!"
"Lab rat," Nathaniel said, confused, before laughing. "Don't be silly, but yes, I needed your core to make a copy for Lelouch's use and one to leave behind where you died. Not only did I intend for Lelouch to become the Herrscher of the Void for my Earth, but I created the link between your cores, hoping his desire for revenge could strengthen and speed up the waking of your consciousness. I suppose the latter worked far better than I had expected."
"So, your plan was for me to take over his body?"
"No, I knew possessing a boy would be quite uncomfortable for you. I only meant for his emotions to provide a needed jump start for you. Even if things didn't go as planned, I think optimistically and believe this could work out for the best," Nathaniel replied before sitting on a wrecked crate near Sirin's bound form. "Oh, right, let me take care of that."
With a snap of his fingers, Nathanial caused the sub-space spear floating less than an inch from Sirin's face to disintegrate into ash.
"As inconvenient the timing was, you did give me a chance to purge Japan's population of those whose genetics don't fit in my future vision. I had to keep Honkai eruptions small and in remote areas to make it easier to cover up. But now I can unleash them larger and in cities for greater efficiency," Nathaniel replied with a dark smile.
"And what is your plan for me, Herald of Finality?!"
Unknown to the pair, and thanks to the link between Sirin's core and Lelouch's new Herrscher Core allowed Lelouch to remain aware and listen in on their conversation. He kept silent, but it was apparent to Lelouch that Sirin and this Herald of Finality had some deal.
Part of that deal must've involved a new body, but what are they planning. And this talk of purging, Japan wasn't the first country they did this to, was it? Lelouch thought, just wondering what kind of people he was dealing with.
"I plan to help you take revenge and, in doing so, take my own revenge upon one I hate with a passion for his murder of Elysia. Only death is too good for him," Nathanial said. "You failed to do things your way, so as we agreed, we'll do things my way. But first, I will arrange for a special trainer for you, and I'll instruct you on how to take possession of the other girl who has the second copy of your core. Your unknowing proxy to launch your attacks upon your home Earth."
"Proxy?" Sirin inquired.
"I'll explain in detail later, but I need to conduct damage control right now. So, I would greatly appreciate it if you didn't mention our discussion to anyone, especially Elysia."
Sirin said nothing, but Nathaniel took her silence as consent, so time began flowing normally again.
Lelouch pretended to be caught off guard by what had happened to avoid suspicion, but he knew he would need to be cautious. If someone could quickly stop time, they couldn't recklessly attack until he could understand how his power worked and how to counter them.
"Well done all of you, including you, Lelouch vi Britannia. Other than being stuck with a hostile persona you'll need to overcome permanently someday, you have gained a quick understanding of your powers. I am very pleased." Nathaniel said, congratulating Elysia, Eleanor, Lelouch, and Nunnally.
"Director, you came!" Eleanor said, surprised by his sudden appearance.
"Yes, I was worried you and Elysia would've killed her; thankfully, it seems my intervention was necessary, but not for the reason I believed."
"Huh, you got my ears now, Nathaniel; it's been a long time," Elysia said, greeting her old friend. "You've changed a lot since I last saw you."
"Indeed, after your murder. I studied your blood and found it had amazing properties, which I used as the catalyst for my Meta-Morph Surgery. I wasn't compatible with it, but your blood worked as a substitute leading to my appearance as it is now. Furthermore, continued research allowed me to improve the Meta-Morph Surgery itself vastly to the point I generally convert anyone into a MANTIS," Nathanial proudly boasted.
"You are cutter with the ears; that much is certain, but what have you been doing, Nathanial? Creating Herrschers?" Elysia said with her usual cheerfulness, but he knew she was being serious.
"Let's go to my office; I'll explain everything. By then, I should have Dr. Mei and the others joining us for a Flame Chaser's reunion."
A/N: Ok, the OC on one of the major villains of the story, and one who is the most obvious villain depending on how you view Kevin and Otto.
I was very nervous posting this chapter because of his introduction, and hopefully I will have learned from previous times I have used such OCs for such roles.
That being said, please tell me how he is? What I got right, what I got wrong and/or what could be done to improve him?
Sirin has been stopped for now, and restrained after reclaiming her new body, which since its her old one it means which choice won the poll by a 12 to 9 vote. Its much stronger than her older one, having a new and improved Meta-Morph surgery performed on it as her new body was grown. I was also worried about the battle and the mindscape scene where Sirin manages to convince Lelouch's darker doppelganger to allow her complete control in exchange for allow him full control once she leaves.
If I dragged out the battle further and Elysia had to take the gloves off I was worried it would've ended badly for Sirin, and yes Eleanor isn't fully use to her new powers as a Herrscher, having just been awoken physically so she is still adjusting. But once I find my groove for doing the battles, things should kick off.
I've moved the pairing poll back onto my profile page, and so far Elysia is still winning with Raiden Mei nipping at her heels in second, with Bronya Zaychik in third followed by her Honkai Star Rail counterpart in fourth place. Seele's own Honkai Star Rail counterpart is in fifth, followed by Kiana, Eden and then Sirin/HoV in eighth. How things play out will play a role in deciding pairings and Elysia is a very stronger contender, poll aside.
Next chapter, Elysia, Lelouch and the others will get some answers and a new planet for them to stay until Japan is "safer to return to." But most of all we'll learn what exactly was done to Nunnally and why, and anyone want to guess what Herrscher power she got?
Thank you all in advance for any reviews, follows and favorites, but thank you for reading. This story is also on Archive of Our own too.