Beyond the Bounds

by The Deserter Angel

Despite their best efforts, they have failed. Their lifeboat plans were a temporary solution. They could have done more, but they couldn't. No, they didn't want to do it, if that meant to go deeper with their curiosity, where the lines they have drew blurred. It didn't matter. That's why they preserved through time, dust and blood. They will put a solution to mankind's bane.

7. Chapter 7

Wow! I haven't updated like in three months.

Sorry people. Things have been difficult, making it hard to write with low motivation and tired from work.

Anyway, the chapter, as you can see, is large. Unlike the previous time, I planned this time to make it longer. Like 12K or 13K words. As you can see, I did more. Why? Things have been difficult and now I barely have the time and energy to write. It's not just being lazy. I leave my work close to night time and from there I have to attend my college and extracurricular activities online. If I don't sleep enough, I am a zombie in my work and my bosses don't find it amusing.

Also, I will like to make something clear. I read in one of the reviews that Adam was based on the male character from APHO.

To be honest, I based Adam on Tatsuya from Mahōka Kōkō no Rettōsei. I realized too late the similitude to the male character from APHO. It wasn't my intention, but well, it's too late to take it back. Use whatever works better for your visualization of Adam's features.

I haven't played the game recently because of work. Goddamnit!

Anyway, I won't take more of your time and I hope that you enjoy the chapter.

I hope to update the story sooner. These are not empty words, I really mean it.

Disclaimer: Honkai Impact 3rd doesn't belong to me, lalalalala...

Enjoy!

---

Broken furniture, debris, shards of glass…

Everything went in slow motion as the gigantic blade severed in half the apartment. The place started to crumble but that was the last of his worries. He was sure the fall wouldn't kill anyone of them. In midair, the group maneuvered to land safely on the ground. The fall on the pavement was hard, but adrenaline and the instinct to survive blocked most of the pain, except for Bronya, who floated down to the ground.

"What is that?!" Mei screamed as the sword tore apart the remnants of the building. With another swing of the sword, the building fell, lifting a big cloud of dust.

"Hahahahaha…" Adam laughed dryly. "We can't just have a break, huh?" He grabbed out Omen, like him, Kiana drew her guns. "Seems like we can't," Kiana answered his question as she clicked her tongue. The dust cloud started to disperse, revealing the responsible for ruining their night. Mei gasped and Kiana gritted her teeth.

"It's easy, Mei," Adam tightened the sword's handle as the thing turned its one-eyed-head-helmet towards them. It was fifteen meters high. It looked almost like a gigantic human knight if you ignored the inhuman features and strange hems on its borders. It lacked the shield, having a free hand to move. It was a little taller compared to the building they were in before. "That piece of shit it's just a damn Honkai Templar, Emperor Class!" Finishing his sentence, the Honkai beast swung again its sword towards the group.

"SHIT!"

"Deploying Project Bunny!"

With an arm's gesture, Bronya summoned in a blink Project Bunny and, surprisingly, with its lance deflected aside the incoming attack.

CLANG! THUMP!

The countered sword hit a large building, getting buried until the middle of it. Adam's eyes widened, impressed at the force Project Bunny displayed to deflect the blow. The Templar centered its attention on Project Bunny. "The Bronya setting the hostile at maximum threat level. Proceeding with great caution." The Templar took out its sword from the building like it was nothing.

Adam was about to order his sword to drink, but he thought better of doing it. He understood that a confrontation would be fruitless. He saved Omen. "No case summoning it. The fucker will chase us until all of us are dead and I doubt it would be of much help here!"

"Fall back! We don't stand a chance against it," Adam ordered as the Templar brought down its sword.

CLANG! THUMP!

Again, Project Bunny managed to deflect the hit but it wasn't easy for Bronya, who was sweating and gasping for air. She couldn't be blamed, parrying off an Emperor Class' attack wasn't an easy feat and much less possible for average Valkyries. "Unless you were her…" Adam remembered a certain Valkyrie to be capable of doing that.

"I don't want to be pessimistic, but it would catch us in no time!" Kiana pointed out. The damn thing looked like the slow-brute type of enemy, but with its large legs, Adam knew that it would reach them in no time if it wanted it. "That only left us with only one option, but I doubt you will like it," Adam said as he concentrated and coldness slowly moved in his body. The Templar pulled free its sword again as Bronya prepared to parry its attack. "Whatever it is just do it!" Kiana screamed as the Templar raised its sword.

Quickly, Adam sprinted at great speed and grabbed Kiana and Mei from their waists, Kiana on his right and Mei on his left, and created a red tendril from his back and grabbed Bronya. The girls yelped at the sudden action.

THUMP!

Debris flew out as the sword cut deeply in the ground. Adam almost lost his foot but used another tendril to avoid falling. He felt he was carrying dozens of kilograms on his back, then he remembered who he was carrying. "Bronya putt off the robot! Too heavy!" Adam pressed at the great weightiness on his back. Bronya complied and Project Bunny disappeared. "Thank you!" He started to run faster at the lack of weight.

"A-Adam-kun what-!"

"Listen up!" He barked. "Bronya, watch out from behind; you two, point out which are the closest cornices or buildings to us. Think fast and wise or we would fall to our deaths!" He ordered as he started to gain more speed.

"W-what are you talk-" he interrupted Kiana. "And please don't talk, unless it's necessary," he smiled uncomfortably as he felt the pressure inside his head slowly rising and his vision getting blurred. "My head is aching from doing all this," he explained. Kiana and Mei understood what he meant.

"The enemy is retrieving its weapon," Bronya informed as they felt a tremor in the pavement. "And has decided to pursuit us." The tremors became insistent and bigger. "The Bronya estimates a collision in T- 7 seconds."

Another pair of crimson tendrils with serrated points formed on his shoulders. Mei yelped and Kiana and Bronya looked suspicious at his form. "Then, I hope that you are not afraid of heights!"

"What?"

The tendrils shot towards the buildings on both sides of the street and to their surprise, Adam swung all of them upwards. He grunted at the weight but bear it.

"AHHHHH!" The screams of the girls, except Bronya, echoed through the buildings as they got higher into the night sky. The Templar stopped for a moment as if it was surprised for this development. They weren't going to waste the opportunity.

"Girls, your turn!" Adam reminded them as the tendrils reached their limit and released its hold, going back quickly to him. Feeling the stillness when they reached their peak in height, Kiana was the first to react. "Second building on your right!" She even pointed it with her hand. Adam grunted and his right shoulder-tendril shot towards there. They swung and once they reached their peak the tendril came back to him. "On your left!" Mei pointed. The tendril shot up and dig profusely in the concrete. They made a close turn to the left. The tendril groaned in protest as they swung.

"We are so lucky the city has tons of tall buildings!" Adam thanked as they moved swiftly over the streets. He dared to sigh in relief, only for it to be crushed as a building exploded and the Templar appeared amongst the debris.

"Why is it so persistent?" Kiana complained. "{Probably because we are carrying a damn Herrscher with us!}" The voice complained in anger. It was known by those in Shicksal that a great source of Honkai energy was bounded to be followed by Honkai creatures. He guessed that perhaps, the creature was called out by the dormant Honkai energy inside Mei's body. He cut his thought as the Templar jerked its hand-sword and brought it forward, cutting apart the premises next to it like hot butter. Kiana and Mei flinched at seeing this. Once it put its eye-head on them it started to chase them, and to their worry, it started to move slightly faster.

"Damn it! Need to move faster!" Adam gritted his teeth as he concentrated. Cold throbbed by his body. The tendrils gained a bright tonality and looked sturdier. The swings became larger and stronger, making their pace faster.

"Urgh!" Adam grunted as he felt a boiling ball inside his head and his vision getting blurrier. The sweets fragrance of shampoo and soap from the girls was slowly replaced by the suffocating stench of dry flowers and blood.

"…it hurts, Adam… it hurts… why this did happen…?" Crimson covered his eye as-

"Focus Adam! Focus!" He bit his lip hard enough to bleed trying to make the pain to keep him focused. It worked as the stench reduced, although it didn't disappear completely.

"Third building on your right!" Kiana screamed as the tendril shot and embed in concrete. Kiana and Mei noted the agitated look on his face.

"The enemy is accelerating its chase. Subject Adam, we need to move faster," Bronya's tone was surprisingly even, but he perceived a tint or urgency in her voice. Adam cursed again as he focused more on to better the tendrils.

"{You are doing something dangerous}" it commented as their speed greatly improved along with the trusts and stretching from the tendrils, what by now glowed with an intermittent sick crimson light. "{If you lose control for even a second, it's game over.}" Adam ignored the voice as he started to feel vertigo while swinging from another building. The details of the buildings became blurry but he could still difference their shapes.

"Second on your left! Aim to the top!" Mei shouted. He obeyed and the tendril stuck to the metal part of the glass building.

"Fast. Fast! FASTER!" The tendrils and their movements were faster and stronger. He needed to be faster!

"{You have not done something like this before. Pushing too much of your limits in a single day after taking the pill.}" The stench came back stronger. The whistling wind and the girls' voices on his ears were slowly being turned into a mute note. He moved automatically, not being fully conscious of his actions.

"Can you hear it?" Her voice was a whisper as the ######## sounded around them. "Don't be scared. Ever-" His sights around became into a tunnel vision as he continued moving at great speed.

"FASTER! FASTER! FASTER!" His breath increased. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he felt the Templar piercing hateful gaze on his back. He turned right sharply, trying to confuse the Templar.

"Can you really escape it?" Adam heard a mature male voice, different from the usual two. It was the first time he heard it. "Will it really stop once you run away as far as you can?" It sounded angered at him but Adam couldn't help but think there was a trace of pity in it. "You were always like this, weren't you? When youwerenot#####you####!"

"FASTER!" His eyes went blood-shot as he kept moving. He heard (ignored the girls' distressed faces) the rising whispers in his head as he moved through a dark valley (the jungle of concrete and glass) while carrying innocents and a slave (them...) (wearerunningtogetherandbe-!)

"-listening!?" he heard Kiana screaming something before she slapped him. Adam turned to her briefly, getting free from his delusion. "What?!" He asked as he looked back to the front. The slap was hard but didn't stop him from moving. His tunnel vision was suddenly gone along with the dry flowers-blood stench. Although his vision continued being blurred and the feeling of vertigo was felt less.

"Are you even listening!?" Kiana asked again as they continued moving. The speed was reduced a bit but they were still faster from their original velocity.

"What do you mean?!" He groaned. He was trying to concentrate while moving through the edifices, damn it!

"You looked out of your mind for a moment!" Kiana raised her voice despite they were less than an arm away. "You weren't paying attention to us! Your eyes went weirder and you were making a creepy smirk!" She added. "Hell! Even Mei-senpai is scared of you!" He moved his eyes to Mei, who flinched when he looked at her. Mei affirmed Kiana's statement as she turned her head away.

Adam didn't know how to exactly feel at this. His priority was getting the hell away from the Emperor Beast as fast as he could. He wasn't going to die here and much less allow the Honkai to reach the Herrscher and the girls. Damn the consequences!

"{Even if you put them in great danger?}" It asked. "{What do you think could have happened if it wasn't for Kiana's slap? A greater shot of speed and leaving the Templar behind?}" It scoffed. "{No. You would have lost your mind. Attacking Mei in midair and leaving Kiana and Bronya exposed to the beast or worst, to your blood thirst!" It reproached gravely.

Adam felt shame because it was right. He didn't think about what he was doing moments before. His only goal in mind was getting the hell away from the city.

"{Siegfried would never forgive you if you touched a single hair of his daughter."}

"{And he would beat you if you have done something to her, only ten times worse.}"

Adam flinched.

"I-I-!"

FLOOSH!

"Incoming!"

The girls turned their heads and made distressed faces as a big ball of debris was flying straight towards them.

"Adam drop!" Kiana shouted. He hurriedly complied, digging the left tendril in the next wall and yanking them towards it with a grunt. They just made it in time as the ball missed them by just some foot. The ball impacted on other buildings, making a thunderous sound as it destroyed more of the premises.

"What the hell!?" Kiana screamed as Adam corrected their course. "The Bronya has never seen this kind of behavior from Honkai creatures," Bronya observed as the Templar, much to her surprise, kept running while wrecking some buildings in its pursuit with its free hand, grabbing chunks of concrete and making crude balls of them.

"Is that normal?" Mei asked. Kiana shook her head and answered her. "No. They just wreck stuff and kill with their own hands. This is even new to me."

"The Bronya shares Idiotka's statement too," Bronya added.

"Stop calling me an idiot!" Kiana complained.

FLOOSH!

"Down!"

Adam pulled them to the right, dodging another ball barely. "Fuck!" He cursed as the ball wrecked a gas station in the zone, exploding and rising flames around.

"The enemy seems determined to pull us down," Bronya commented. "Really? I thought it was just playing with us?!" Kiana remarked sarcastically. Adam was about to tell the girls to quiet as he shot the next tendril, but Mei interrupted them.

"Watch out!" She cried out as he saw a Chariot walking on the top of the building where his tendril was about to land. It took him by surprise when the damn thing jumped towards the tendril's destiny, trying to cut their way. It was effective as Adam called it back with a grunt to avoid being hit. He tried to hook in another place, but it was too late.

"Brace for impact!" Bronya raised her voice. He heard her cry and went to cover themselves in tendrils and toughen them as fast as possible into a shell.

BANG!

"AHHH!" The girls screamed as the debris impacted them and threw them off. Adam grunted as he felt the tendrils surface being hit like. He felt like a Ping-Pong ball bouncing on the hard table. While he couldn't exactly 'feel' the external pain that would come from bouncing around, there was a great numb sensation in all his body and he felt how his head was boiling from inside.

Once they stopped moving, Adam sighed relief and undid the shell. The toll from overusing his power was great because he dropped the girls unceremoniously like a sack of potatoes on the cold pavement. The girls grunted as he fell on his knees and tried to catch his breath.

Mei was the first one to recover. "Is everyone alright?!" Mei asked worriedly.

"Affirmative. The Bronya doesn't present any injuries except for light dizziness," Bronya answered with her even voice as she checked herself.

"Ugh!" Kiana groaned as she put the palm of her hand over her mouth as she almost spilled her dinner on the ground. Mei crouched beside her and put a hand on her back as a sign of comfort. "Kiana-chan, are you alright?" Kiana nodded as she gulped back her meal. "Y-yeah. This is n-nothing to me!" Kiana smiled tightly to Mei as she got on her feet. Mei just nodded, not trying to press Kiana given the situation they were in. She turned to Adam to see if he was alright.

"Adam-kun, are you-"

Blegh!

Mei flinched as Adam puked his stomach contents on the ground. He was on his hands and knees as he continued spilling his dinner. The disgust she felt at the scene was pushed back by worry when she spotted blood dripping, not from his mouth, but his nostrils. Staggering, Adam got up as fast as he could. His knees buckled and almost fell if it wasn't for Kiana's help. She caught him and let him lean on her.

"Blegh!" She grimaced when the smell of vomit hit her nose. "Geez Adam, Mei-senpai will get mad if you continue puking all she gives you to eat," Kiana tried to light the mood by joking. It worked as Adam scoffed and gave a trembling smile. "Well, if we continue running into these kinds of shitty situations, maybe I should consider killing the bastards with my acid vomit."

"Wait, you can do that?"

"I wish." He coughed and the girls saw that his right eye looked unfocused and the other one was bloodshot, with the pale area around the eye sticking out with crimson veins. They also spotted that he was bleeding slightly from both ears. They stared too much because with his free hand Adam covered his left eye and quickly cleaned himself.

"Fuck! This stings like hell!" Adam grunted as he felt his unfocused eye and head pulsing in pain. Adam felt like he had been running for many hours without stopping for breath. He felt he was sweating cold.

"Is subject Adam capable of operating again?" Bronya asked as she pointed to the Templar, who was walking towards them. "The Bronya estimates that we have less than five minutes before it reaches us and proceeds to eliminate us," she stated coldly. The girls flinched at her statement.

"Let me try," he grunted as he separated from Kiana. "Thanks." She nodded back. Adam took a deep breath as he tried to summon the tendrils.

"Focus, Adam. Focus," he repeated inside his head as he started to feel a cold sensation all over his body. "Almost there-!" "Fuck! My head!" He cursed as he felt the boiling ball inside his head getting bigger. He shivered and clenched his teeth when he felt how the boiling ball inside his skull threatened to split his head in half.

"Fuck!" The trembles from the Templar's steps were getting closer and closer. The thing was ten blocks away from them. Adam was sure the backlash was fucking with his mind, because for some reason, he felt that the Templar was looking not at them, but glaring at him.

"{We need to move NOW if you don't wish to be crushed!}"

"I know it!" He answered, without noticing he said it out loud.

"Adam?"

He ignored the question and started to search with his eyes something to getaway. He noted there were many cars around, some were just left there in the middle of the street and others were trashed against some buildings and street lights. He also noted the sewer lids.

"We could use the sewers or an abandoned car to get away…"

"{But the sewers are a very easy area to be ambushed and the travel by car, you risk being knocked down by the Chariots,}"pointed out the dark voice. Between a claustrophobic death and being stomped over by a Chariot or the Templar, the choice was obvious.

"Find a car and hop in!" He spat some blood. "Bronya, you will be our main defense!" He moved towards the non-wrecked cars.

Wordlessly the girls quickly went to work. Fortunately for them, there weren't any zombies or Honkai creatures around except for the Templar and the abandoned cars still with the keys in them. Their already high worry escalated when the chosen vehicles weren't working and the groans from the zombies were heard in the distance.

"Damn! This one doesn't work either," Kiana slammed a car's door close. "They are all useless!" She cried out. Like her, the others shared her frustration. "Fuck!" Adam cursed kicking a car, leaving a little dent on the door. "Many cars and none of them damn work!"

"The Bronya hypothesize that they could have run out of battery after they were abandoned by their owners," Bronya disclosed.

Seeing that none of the cars worked and that they were about to be reached by the Templar and the zombies were close, Adam opted for the alternative and went to one of the sewer lids and lifted it. He recoiled at the putrid smell released but pushed the need to back.

"Forget about them! Get down girls and hope we make it," he barked. Kiana and Bronya recoiled once the smell hit them. "Is there another way, Adam? It stinks!" Kiana's voice was muffled by the hand covering her nose and mouth. "We don't another choice. It's this or be killed by the Templar!" He remarked.

"Guys! I think this one may work!" Mei screamed from a white SUV. Her voice was full of relief. Mei turned the key and the driving board lightened for a few seconds. "Yes!"

Only to grimace as the car went dead. "No, no, no!" She turned again the key but to no avail. The engine hummed a bit before falling silent. "No!" She punched the steering wheel in frustration. "This can't be happening!" She clenched her fists in frustration. "We have come this far to fail at the last second!" She saw from the rearview that the Templar was almost on them. She tried to turn on the car again. It didn't work. "NO!" She punched again the wheel harder this time.

"{How pathetic,}" Mei went still as she heard the Herrscher's mocking voice inside her head. "How-?" The Herrscher interrupted her. "{Whining like a little kid it's unfit of a Queen's vessel.}" To her surprise, Mei saw how some electricity rays sparkled on her hands for an instant before entering the driving board. "{You are welcome, little girl,}" as soon as her voice left her mind, the car turned on.

"Yes!" Mei screamed in relief. She should have been worried about the Herrscher's presence in her mind, but right now she was more worried about getting out of the city alive with her friends.

"I will worry about that later," she thought before honking to the rest. "Come on guys! Get in!" She screamed from the window. They were surprised but quickly got over it and jogged away from the sewer and got inside the SUV. Bronya and Adam in the back and Kiana at her side. "Oh thank god! You are the best Mei-senpai!" Kiana cried in relief. "How did you manage to turn it on, Mei?" Adam asked. She almost flinched at his question, thinking that it wasn't a good moment to tell them about the Herrscher's presence.

"Well, I…"

"The Hostile is accelerating its pace."

"Never mind. Punch the pedal!" Adam screamed as the Templar started to close the distance quickly. Mei set the gearbox and stepped on the pedal to the bottom. There was a brief shriek from the wheels as the SUV sprinted at great speed, leaving behind great groups of zombies coming from the adjacent streets.

"Seatbelts," Mei called. They obeyed and set the belts. They weren't going to die stupidity for something like a car crash after surviving this long. The SUV turned left on a street and continued going on as Mei reduced the speed to a safer level. Fortunately for them, the road Mei chose was mostly clear from abandoned vehicles and zombies. "If we take this road and continued for the next five kilometers, there is an underground road that could take us out of the city in less than an hour," Mei informed them while taking a peek from the rearview. The rest breathed in relief hearing this.

Adam was more relieved of the four, knowing that he didn't have to make use of his powers unless they found trouble.

"{You know that you are just tempting fate, don't you?}" It asked drily. "{You have the first-hand experience from doing that.}" Remarked the other.

"Right now I just want to relax for a moment before something else tries to kill us," Adam remarked as he relaxed on the back seat.

The SUV engine hummed softly as they made their way on the abandoned streets of Nagazora. He closed his eyes as he took deep breaths, trying to get a hold of himself. The sharp pain lingered still, but he found some relief knowing they were out of danger for the moment.

---

"And there," Siegfried finished inputting the last number on the holographic console. He was on the flat side of the war satellite. It was round, colored in a deep blue theme with many flat sides. There were spikes on almost all sides. Its diameter was around 22 feet. He almost tripped when another wave pushed the satellite.

"Damn. I don't want to get wet right now," Siegfried complained. There was a soft hum and another screen appeared, asking for the keyword. "Ok. Just one word and I can get some hours of sleep after this." He scratched his forehead. "I get all the secrecy, but come on Hestia, those buttons were too small and the data drive it's almost the size of a pill," he complained as he inputted the last word.

"MIRAGE." He wrote on the keyboard. As soon as he was done the screen turned red and a countdown of sixty seconds began. He didn't need to be a genius to know what it meant.

"Time to go!" Siegfried turned and jumped to his boat. The boat trembled a bit at the sudden pressure. He quickly went to the console and pressed the option 'Rainy day' on the digital screen.

"DISRUPTION FIELD ACTIVATED." An electronic voice sounded while a pair of antennas with a yellow light on their tips raised from the upper and back front of the boat. Not waiting for another second, Siegfried pushed the lever on maximum speed. He was pushed back a bit at the sudden movement but corrected his step. The boat moved rapidly away from the satellite. He turned and saw the satellite was getting smaller and smaller as he was moving. Thinking he was far enough, he stopped the boat.

"I don't see why Hestia-" he didn't finish as a powerful explosion detonated from the fallen satellite. The force was powerful enough to push down Siegfried despite the distance. The boat trembled due to the waves violently shaking it. The night sky illuminated briefly at the energy the satellite released as it was destroyed. When the light was over, Siegfried struggled to get back on his foot.

"HOLY SHIT!" He couldn't help but scream at the powerful auto-destruction display. "I don't want to think about what could have happened if I was close to it." He thought Hestia was overdramatic when she said to get away from it as fast as possible but guessed he would have fried his ass if it wasn't for her warning. He put the boat back in the move as he was driving back to the ports as fast as possible. He didn't want to appear in Shicksal's radar or Anti-Entropy for the moment. Despite he trusted Hestia's tech and plans, he couldn't help but feel anxious. After almost thirty minutes, Siegfried reached the ports. Seeing there weren't Valkyries or Mechs around, Siegfried released a breath of relief. He drove the boat back to its original place. As he just finished securing the boat, his cellphone started to ring.

"Hey Hestia," he greeted her as he got down from the boat and walked towards the exit. "I got your info and by the way, I almost roasted my ass back there! You should have told me the explosion was going to be pretty big." He was expecting a remark about him being an idiot for not listening to her. He wasn't prepared for her tense voice.

"Siegfried," she began. "I need you to remain calm." He wasn't calm at all when she said it. "Something just happened some minutes ago. It has something to do with Adam."

"What? Is the kid alright?" He asked. Siegfried knew first-hand that if something bad happened to Adam, Hestia was the first to get worried for him. Siegfried couldn't blame her, Adam was sometimes reckless and backed by his regenerative powers, he had ended up doing something pretty dangerous on some missions. More than once, the two had argued whenever Adam did something risky to complete a contract or mission. The kid could sometimes be hard to hand, but that didn't mean Siegfried didn't get worried for him.

Hestia didn't respond for some seconds.

"Adam is not alright at all. Since day one he had been searching to leave the city. He has been running away from the Honkai beasts and avoiding the hordes of undead whenever it is possible." Siegfried nodded in agreement at Adam's tactic actions. "I don't see what the problem is Hestia?" He quickly corrected himself as he heard her growl. "I m-mean! The kid is strong enough to leave the city behind. It is not like the first time he has run into something really dangerous alone, Hestia. And knowing him, I feel sorry for the poor corpses he will chop down." He explained as he left behind the docks and was walking on the sidewalk towards his hotel. The streets were alone.

"He isn't alone, Siegfried." He raised a brow hearing this. "He met with other survivors while they were cornered by a group of zombies." Siegfried chuckled at this. "What? Worried that the kid is all alone with some girls, Hestia?" Siegfried joked. He grabbed a pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket and grabbed one with his mouth. He saved the pack and using her left hand, he picked a lighter from the same pocket and lighted up the tobacco roll.

She snorted as he took a pair of puffs from his cigarette. "He doesn't have womanizer tendencies, like you Siegfried. It's with who he ran into that I am worried about and how things are playing out right now," she remarked.

Siegfried took the cigarette from his mouth and held it between his fingers as he exhaled a cloud of smoke. "Come on, Hestia. It couldn't be that bad."

"He teamed up with a young girl from the Siberian region called Bronya Zaychik and Raiden Ryoma's daughter, the current Third Herrscher…"

He almost dropped his cigarette at the surprise "Fuck! That's pretty bad! Why didn't you told me this before making me going into the ocean?" He took notice that she said Adam teamed up with them "Wait? Are you telling me he teamed up with a Herrscher? Shouldn't, I don't know, trying to kill each other?" He cursed. "Shit! What I am supposed to tell Ryoma if Adam-?"

"Can I continue?" she interrupted him. Siegfried cleared his throat. "Sorry. Please continue," he took another puff of his smoke. Hestia continued." As I was explaining, he ran into three survivors. Until now, things have gone well between the four, but right now the situation is turning too dire for them. As we are speaking, they are being attacked by an Emperor Class beast and they are running away from it."

Siegfried exhaled a big cloud of smoke. "So, let me guess. I am going to Nagazora to help them get out of the city and while doing that, capture the damn Herrscher and secure them, right?" He guessed.

"Not at all, I already have that covered, but….there is something else you have to know," Siegfried thought he must be tired because he heard Hestia's voice getting nervous.

"What is it?"

"It's Kiana, Siegfried. She is traveling with them."

The effect was instantaneous. Siegfried's leg got stuck in middle motion, his breath went still, and even his fingers that were holding the cigarette were touched by the light flame. He didn't react to the fire burning him.

After long tensed seconds, his breath resumed and corrected his step.

"Siegfried. I know-"

"What. The. Fuck. Hestia." His voice was above a hiss, but she knew how much it could mean this coming from someone like Siegfried.

"She is in good health and Adam has made sure that she is safe and-"

"WHAT. THE. FUCK. HESTIA!" Siegfried screamed pissed off as the air around him turned deadly cold. He didn't need to look at his cigarette to know that it became a sharp shard of ice. He was lucky that the docks were cleared from people at this hour. He only scared off some rats and a stray dog, which left running as soon as they felt the murder air around him.

"You promised me that she would be safe! You told me that you would clear a path for her in the case a damn Honkai outbreak happened," Siegfried growled, crushing the ice shard between his fingers. "You know that one of the terms for me to be working with you is that she is safe. If you don't remember, because it's pretty stupid given that you are an AI, Otto motherfucker Apocalypse is looking for her and there is going to be a cold day in Schicksal if that piece of shit touches a single hair of my girl," Siegfried almost crushed his phone. Thankfully it was made of a very resistant material. "Why you didn't contact me sooner?!"

"Siegfried, I know that you are pissed off and I understand your disturbance," Hestia concurred with him. "Believe me, I know you are angry but you must understand that what happened was out of my control."

He snorted, releasing a cold mist from his breath. "Don't pull that crap, Hestia. I know that it's almost impossible for something to be out of your control." Siegfried growled again in discontent. "Tell me. Right now. What the fuck happened?"

Hestia inhaled deeply. "Someone interfered with Nagazora's network before I could do something," she sounded annoyed. "I don't how it happened, but before I could contact Kiana and Adam at the first hints of the Outbreak, someone took control of the network and turned it off. By the time I gained eyes over there, they were already in trouble and Schicksal had their sight on the city as well. I couldn't risk being exposed helping them from inside the city." The air around Siegfried started to return to normal as she explained. "This worries me as much as it worries you. Not of this must-have happened Siegfried," her voice was full of worry.

The air around stopped being deadly cold, but it couldn't be said the same for his serious attitude. "Did Schicksal took the lead before you?" Siegfried asked. He knew that there was almost nothing that escaped her. And if it happened, it or they were too cunning or dangerous.

"No," she snorted. "They may have the latest technology, but comparing it to mine, theirs would be my Game Boy," she sassed. Siegfried tried to not snicker but failed as chuckled with his mouth closed, sounding more like a hum. "Anti-Entropy?"

"They are competent, I will give them that. Still, my jukebox touches better songs than them."

Despite being a joke out of this tense moment, Siegfried started to laugh out loud hearing this. He knew Hestia was protective and prideful of her technology developed by her, to the length to say the rest were cheap knock offs.

"Hahahahaha!" He left the shards' leftovers fall on the ground. He started to relax slowly. "Tesla and Einstein would declare you war if they heard you say that." He responded in a hoarse voice.

"As much as I would like to have a pair of assistants once they have tested defeat, I only share with the people I trust." The implication didn't go over his head. Siegfried sighed. "Sorry about a moment ago," he apologized.

She hummed. "It's alright Siegfried. I know that you are just worried about her." Then she added. "And to answer your question about why I didn't tell you about it earlier, it's because there was an anomaly in my surveillance network some hours ago."

"That doesn't sound good," he thought. "What happened?" He asked. She hummed again for a moment before answering. "In summary, someone interrupted my network for some minutes. They tried to hack a satellite, hence I put it down and made you recover the non-contained corrupted data before destroying it," Hestia groaned in frustration. "I would rather lose an eye on the sky than having an intruder in my eyes." Then, she grunted. "Still, I am mad that I lost one. They aren't cheap and it would become suspicious if I tried to launch a new satellite this time given that Anti-entropy and Otto are too territorial with their satellites."

"Do you know who tried to hack you?"

"Who? Don't. How? Yes. They used an old terminal to access my network. The thing must have been old because it entered an old channel from the communication system and gazed some unimportant documents before I contained the leak." Hestia explained. "It used an old algorithm but effective to a certain length. Still, I didn't want to risk another leak of information until the satellite was down for sure." She explained

"And, if you don't mind sharing, what those documents were about?" He asked. It didn't make sense that someone will hack Hestia's network to only gaze at some documents deemed unimportant.

"Nothing of importance. Some documents a technician uploaded in the network in memory of her life partner." Siegfried was intrigued by this. "All that trouble for that?" He scratched his nape. "Too simple, don't you think?" He asked. In his personal experience, while simple things were good, there would be something waiting to hit you when you least expected.

"I read the documents and they were nothing special. Some poems and thoughts. Nothing delicate," Hestia responded. "Still, I will take a better look at the data you extracted once you arrive at your next location." She added. "Be advised, I will rearrange the firewalls and the proxies the next following weeks to make sure this doesn't happen again." Siegfried groaned, knowing his access to his bank account and his debit card will be stopped for the meanwhile. "Only a few people had access to the terminals and even fewer knew about the existence of my surveillance network. Keep your eyes open. The Snake's hatchlings may have a hand on this." Her voice was worried.

"Do you think he is becoming active?" Siegfried looked behind him suspiciously as he resumed walking. "Perhaps," Hestia answered. "He and his subordinates work under the radar and try to not rise suspicious in AE and Otto eyes, but they tend to be sometimes bold."

"So, now I need to stay under the radar until then?" He remembered Kiana and the others. "What about Kiana and the brat? Are they alright?" While Hestia said she got covered that, Siegfried couldn't help but feel worried about his baby doll and Adam.

"They are having a hard time but I expect them to leave the city in the next four hours," she informed him. Although, this didn't calm Siegfried at all. "You -?" Hestia's voice faltered.

"Hestia?"

"Oh no…" her voice sounded worried again. "Go to the airport right now. You are going to take a flight." She ordered sharply.

"Huh?" He was surprised at the sudden change. "Hestia?"

"It has to do with the network and something else," she hastily explained. "You will take a private jet. Someone will guide you to the airport towards the plane in the next hour. Pick up your things and hurry up, Siegfried. And for what's worth, I am sorry." She rushed before hanging up. Noticing her distress, Siegfried saved his phone and questions and started to run at great speed towards his hotel to grab his luggage.

---

Moments before Siegfried and Hestia were talking…

"Watch out!" Kiana cried out.

Screech!

Adam hit his head against the passenger window as the vehicle made a sharp turn.

"The hell?" Adam asked as he rubbed his head. "The road. It's blocked," Mei answered as she took a peek from the rearview. "There were too many cars to move," she looked worried. "There were also many zombies to handle," Mei clenched the wheel in frustration.

"Is there another way to leave the city immediately?" Adam's worry raised as Mei shook her head. "No. This one was one of the main four roads to get out of Nagazora. The others are so far and I fear we may have another encounter with the zombies and… that thing." Mei disclosed. He cursed. "Shit."

"Then, why don't try to make a run for it?" Kiana asked. "I mean, at least we have a car now and we save plenty of time and energy while moving around. Why not try it?" To her chagrin, Bronya answered her. "Like subject Mei informed, the risk of encountering more obstacles and enemies in the city is high, not to mention that we were being persecuted by an Emperor Class Beast," Bronya informed.

Kiana deflated in her seat at her explanation. "I was trying to be optimistic. Geez, what a way to kill the mood, brat."

"The Bronya was only informing Idiotka the facts." Bronya shuddered. "Guess it is too much for your intelligence to process it."

"I am not an idiot!"

The girls continued arguing. By this point, Adam was used to their tirade, but the rising pain inside his head wasn't making it easy for him to tolerate them. He was about to scream to them to quiet but someone beat him to it.

"Stop fighting in the car!" Mei screamed harshly. The girls were perplexed at the sudden rise of her voice. "We are not doing this right now!" They went quiet and meekly sat back.

"Guess the stress is finally getting to her," Adam noticed while taking deep breaths. Mei kept her eyes on the road while Kiana played with her thumbs and Bronya was looking at anything except Mei. Adam couldn't help but the awkward mood remembered him whenever his sister, he, or his cousin fought in the car and their mother would reproach them.

After some minutes, the awkward mood was broken by Mei. "I-I am sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that. It's just -she sighed- I am so tired…"

"It is okay, Mei-senpai," Kiana said as she smiled gently at her. "Sorry for the ruckus," she apologized. Bronya followed. "The Bronya apologizes as well, subject Mei. It wasn't the Bronya's intention to stress you more than you already are."

"It's alright, girls." Mei then looked at him from the rearview. "By the way, how do you feel, Adam-kun?" Mei asked worried for him. Adam grunted and answered her. "Not good at all, but it could be worse," he massaged his forehead, finding little comfort in it. "I overused my powers for the moment and the backlash it's a real bitch," he took a more comfortable position on his seat. He tried to lighten Mei when he noticed her worried look. "I will live. A little nap and as long as I don't have to chop zombies in the following pair of hours, I will be good."

"Wouldn't you be better if you take one of your pills," Kiana chimed in. "It helped you the last time you puked on the roof?" Adam sighed and shook his head. "While it's an option, I don't think it's a good idea". Kiana turned on her seat and looked at him. The same did Bronya. "Why not?" Kiana asked. Adam elaborated. "The pill I took help me to manage the backlash whenever I overuse my powers. Yeah, they are pretty useful, but only to a certain degree and there are secondary effects. I am at the point that if I take one right now and I have to push myself too far again, well… things can get troublesome." The girls raised their brows at his faltering tone in the last part.

"And ugly too." He added mentally.

"Define troublesome, subject Adam," Bronya inquired with her leveled voice, although they heard curiosity in it.

"I rather not."

Adam didn't think it was a good idea to reveal the information at all. While it was unfair from his part, given that the girls have been honest so far, he didn't want to leave loose ends and much less to the Herrscher's vessel. Don't get him wrong. He trusted Mei as far as he had meet herm but not the Herrscher. It could have access to Mei's memories or in the worst case, it could have been hearing everything since Mei regained control. From some documents he came across during his journey the Herrschers were connected to the Will of the Honkai, like a hive, but with a much direct mental connection. He didn't want to give an advantage to the Herrscher if possible and much less to the Will of it.

Kiana pouted in response while Bronya subtly glared at him. "It is not good to hide information that could put the others in harm's way, subject Adam," Bronya reproached him. Kiana nodded in agreement with her. Mei kept her eyes on the road but he caught her looking at him from the rear mirror.

"{Like you are one to talk, loli-bot}" The voice remarked dryly. Adam hushed it and rubbed his forehead. "I don't think it's a good time to mention it now. It will only stress us more than we already are." His ache head pain started to slowly subside. "Let's just focus on getting the hell away from here." He yawned and leaned back on his seat while closing his eyes, trying to make clear he didn't want to discuss it.

His peace lasted for a moment before Kiana asked.

"By 'troublesome' do you mean, something like what happened this morning?"

Adam gave himself away as his eyes shot open and looked frantically at her. Kiana gave him back a serious look, not breaking eye contact.

"It is, isn't it?" She asked rhetorically. Adam cursed internally. He could try to deny it, but at this point and the suspicious looks from the other girls, it could harden things until he got out of the city.

"Sometimes you win, sometimes you have to lose," he thought. "Why the naïve ones have to be sharp in the wrong moments?"

Adam released a deep breath in resignation. "What a way to put someone in the spotlight, Kiana." She didn't react to his remark. She kept staring at him. "Yes, what happened could be repeated, only this time I won't be able to hold myself back and you would have to do something harsh to incapacity me." Mei flinched remembering, from the Herrscher's memories, the cold face and maddening light inside his red eyes as he almost killed her on the spot while he spluttered words.

"Then, I have to hit you harder if you went out of control again," Kiana stated like it was normal. "Don't worry, Adam, I will make sure to not break all your bones," Kiana reassured (?) as she smiled at him. Adam didn't know what to feel. Unbelief, relief, or worry at her statement.

"{Baby, he can kill 5 persons in a blink,}" it remarked. "{Still, it's nice she wants to help you}" the other felt touched for her declaration.

Adam was about to add something else but Bronya interrupted him. "The Bronya detects sudden movement on our right side." They looked towards there in alarm, but they didn't find anything suspicious except the occasional zombie in the city. After some seconds, the other passengers looked back at her. "I don't see anything, brat. You sure the hits didn't freak your robot or something? They were nasty," Kiana commented. Bronya shook her head and surprisingly didn't react negatively to Kiana. "The Bronya is 100% sure there was something mo-," she set again her eyes to the right. Kiana was about to call her off until Adam felt a big chill on his back.

"She is right," he affirmed as the chill crawled on his back like a bug. "Something is close to us. Mei, try to take another route to the left," she nodded and was about to turn the car on an intersection until they felt sudden tremors shaking the car.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Thinking quickly, Adam bit his lip and forced himself to summon the tendrils and quickly enfolded the girls and himself into a big protective shell.

"Adam-kun?!"

"Gross! Like in those pervert mangas!

"This is inappropriate material for the Bronya!"

The girls screamed at his sudden action but soon understood it as the car was kicked off the road, courtesy from the same Templar that ruined their night, and went rolling on the streets for various blocks until they finally stopped by leaving a dent on a large building. The car was wrecked beyond repair. Fortunately, they haven't been severely injured thanks to the shell-made-tendrils. With a harsh breath, Adam undid the shell, leaning back on what was left of his seat. The urge to vomit was sudden but he managed to suppress it. The same couldn't be said about the blood leaving his nostrils and both ears. Despite this, he looked at the girls, who were still on the destroyed seats while groaning from the hectic journey, courtesy of the Templar.

"Girls…" Adam coughed and saw it was blood. "Shit! No good," he undid the remains of his seat belt. He patted Mei, Kiana, and Bronya on their shoulders to gain their attention. "Girls… we need to move… come on…" His voice was hoarse. The girls nodded and released their belts. They tried to open the doors, although all of them fell to the ground once they pulled the handles.

They got out of the car and started walking. Kiana held her hand on her mouth, trying to not puke. Mei and Bronya were doing better, holding their heads to soothe the dizziness. Adam wasn't doing much better. His sight was blurred and he almost tripped if it wasn't for him leaning on a wall.

"We –gulp- need to find another car," Kiana suggested as she swallowed her vomit and made a sour expression from it. Before they could even start to search, they heard a familiar clatter close to them.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

To their distress, the Templar quickly appeared in front of them, crushing a few cars and buildings and brought its sharp blade upon them.

CLANG!

Reacting faster than anyone, Project Bunny materialized and blocked the sword with its lance. Project Bunny tried to push back the Templar with its shield to have some space to move. Keyword: Tried.

Using its moment motion to its advantage, the Templar grabbed Project Bunny's shield with its freehand and easily, to the distress of the others, threw away Project Bunny, along with Bronya; crashing multiple buildings due to its strength.

"Bronya!" Mei screamed in horror as the young girl was easily dealt with. Adam cursed as he tried to summon again the tendrils to get the girls away, but he couldn't.

"Come on! Come on!" Adam hissed. The Templar turned its head towards them. The shiver on Adam's back got worse as the Templar set its sight on them. Pushing the oppressive feeling back, Adam tried again to summon his powers, but he was met with a terrible migraine.

"Agh!" Adam snarled, falling and lowering his head in pain. His breath was heavy and his vision got more blurred than before. There was more blood coming from his mouth. The Templar, almost mechanically, raised its sword, set in ending their lives. Adam lifted his head and to his horror saw that the girls weren't moving at all.

"Run!" He shouted. The girls weren't reacting, probably coming to terms of what just happened to Bronya, but he didn't have time for that. Not now.

"MOVE! NOW!" His voice changed and got graver in the last part. It did the work as Mei and Kiana snapped out of their trance and looked at his terrible state.

"A-Adam?!" Mei asked disconcerted, trying to grasp the situation. The Templar's sword was almost at its highest point at what its arm allowed. Dread formed in his gut seeing this, only worsening when Mei, above all common sense and sense of survival, came back to aid him. "What are you doing?!" He screamed. Mei tried to lift him to his legs, failing to do it. She could have done this easier, but the tiredness of the day was finally catching on her.

"Leave me!" He pushed her and fell on his bottom. "I will be fine! Just fucking run with Kiana!" He screamed. Mei shook her head in refusal and tried to lift him again.

"NO!" She screamed back. "I will not abandon a friend in need!" Adam was bewildered. "We just know each other less than three days and we are already friends?!" After struggling for another second, Mei finally managed to lift him to his feet.

WOOFSH!

Thanks to the adrenaline, Adam saw in slow motion how the blade was coming towards them. He tried to summon a tendril that could pull them out of the way and maybe survive the worst of the strike. He grimaced in dread that not only the sword was coming towards them. "Mei-senpai! Adam!" Kiana screamed as she ran towards them. Adam thought she went away trying to save Bronya or something; no putting herself in death's way to save them!

"KIANA NO!"

Due to her velocity and strength, Kiana managed to push them out of the blade's way in time as it dug deep in the pavement, lifting dust and debris around. Mei and Adam caught her collapsing body on them. Adam pushed aside the discomfort her weight caused him as a familiar metallic smell reached his nostrils.

DRIP… DRIP… DRIP…

Mei and Adam's eyes widened in horror as they saw a large slash on her back; from her left shoulder to her right hip. The cut was deep. Adam was more surprised that the sword didn't tear her in two. Yet, there was much blood around and coming from the slash.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Adam cursed in worry. "Come on, Kiana, don't fucking die on me!" He grunted. "O-Oh my god…" Mei spoke barely in a whisper as she saw the terrible state of her friend. Kiana's skin was quickly turning pale and the only reason he didn't give her up for death was for the weak rise and fall motion from her chest on them.

"She is still alive," he spoke. "Thanks for the small miracles," he thought in relief. "We need to take her away before she bleeds to death," he moved his head to Mei, who was still in shock with a horror grimace on her face. "MEI!" He tried to call her attention. "We must take Kiana away if we want her to live!" He screamed at her face, but she didn't show signs of listening to him.

"T-this, this is all my fault," she babbled before repeating the words over and over again. "My fault. My fault. My fault. My fault. My fault. My fault…" Adam was about to slap her to snap her out of it until the smell of ozone hit his nostrils and sparkles formed and cracked around her. The Templar raised again its sword to deliver the definitive blow.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

"NO!" She screamed to the sky as a wing of electricity manifested on her left shoulder.

Adam barely covered his face as Mei's body released a blast of energy, throwing him down the street. His body rolled on the hard pavement for many feet until he collided against a street pole. He groaned in pain but swallowed it when he spotted Mei slowly rising in the sky while releasing deadly rays around her. The Templar stopped moving, gazing at Mei with all its attention. The ozone smell became more intense and her left-wing extended in all its glory. His worry skyrocket went he spotted that Kiana was in the arms of the awakened Herrscher.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK!" Adam cursed loudly. He was so centered on watching the girls that he missed numerous Honkai beast surrounding the immediate blocks. His yelling called the attention of the Templar. Deciding that it was better if it took care of the pest near its Queen, the Templar dragged its sword on the pavement, finally catching Adam's attention. It took three seconds to Adam to understand what its intentions were. Again, he tried to summon the tendrils. He concentrated as hard as he could, but the headache pushed him back for summoning the tendrils. The Templar raised its sword in a swift motion. Adam struggled to get on his feet. Surprisingly, the Templar waited for him. Adam leaned his back on the pole. His legs were trembling and he glared at the Honkai.

"Do your best, asshole," Adam said with scorn as he spat some blood on the pavement.

The Templar complied, bringing down the sword on him.

"This is going to hurt so fucking much!" He thought while bracing for the incoming wave of agony.

"Stop!" Instantly, the Templar stopped at its Queen command. The blade froze a few feet upon Adam. He was confused as to why she stopped it. The Templar turned to look at her. Adam thought that even the Templar was lost at her order.

"The Queen doesn't accept your service, knight." A ball of electricity quickly gathered over her. With a gesture of her hand, a deadly ray of plasma was shoot from the ball of lighting and was aimed towards the Templar. The ray didn't pierce its armor, rather its body absorbed it. The Templar's body started to quiver and its hard skin bubbled like it was hot plastic.

"Begone!" She screamed and the lightning power increased. Templar's tremble increased. In a few seconds, its large body was reduced into a messy ball of gum. The ray stopped and what remained of the Templar exploded into a pillar of light that soared to the night sky.

"If you are going to die, it is going to be by my hand, Worm," Mei, or to be precise, the Herrscher, announced as she lowered her right hand. Seeing who she was carrying, the Herrscher snorted and adjusted her grip on Kiana. Now, she was carrying her princess style.

"What a mess," she commented while looking at Kiana. "Getting hurt while trying to protect that coward and the Worm," the Herrscher mocked Kiana's actions. The Herrscher's gaze lingered on Kiana's injured body for some seconds before remembering something. "Speaking of him. Where is he?" She wondered, moving her eyes towards the last place she saw him. She noted that were once was the Templar, now there was only left a big crater with debris around it.

"Did that attack also kill him?" She asked to herself while rising a brow with an arrogant tone. "Maybe I expected too much from someone-" she cut herself as she noted how a pile of rocks near the crater started to shook before they started to fall. She was a bit surprised when the falling pile of rocks revealed a battered Adam with many cuts. Her lips twitched a little up, only a bit, as Adam pushed himself up free from the debris. His clothes presented many cuts and tears around.

"It seems that I need to try harder if I want to finish you, Cockroach," the Herrscher exclaimed, raising her voice, so Adam could hear her. He answered her after long seconds. "Worm? Cockroach?" He snorted. His voice was hoarse. "Plenty original," he spat some blood and dust that got in his dry mouth.

"Shit…" Adam grunted as he felt how his head was about to explode at any moment. If his headache wasn't bad, now he found it difficult to breathe without wincing in pain.

"Our last encounter proved to be advantageous to you, Worm," she made a sour face before smiling mockingly. "Now, that the tables are reversed, I wonder, what are you going to do?"

"{She is trying to provoke you,}" it said tensed. "{Don't you remember that we still have the pact up with her?}" The other voice spoke. "{But it's unlikely that she would break the agreement. Unless she finds out the loophole.}" Adam agreed with them. The agreed to not attack each other. There was nothing said about not using someone else to attack each other or being "collateral damage".

"Still, I need to get Kiana out of here. I can't face Siegfried ever again if I let Kiana die in her hands." Adam watched around him to see if there was something that he could use in his favor. He frowned when he spotted the multiple Honkai beasts around, blocking him from escaping.

"This is getting boring, Worm," the Herrscher commented with a boring tone. "I am only allowing you to recover before we continue where we left it." She frowned and the Honkai beasts growled or hissed threateningly at him. "Not even think about running away. I will break this stupid girl's neck if you try something funny." Adam was sure she wasn't bluffing. He decided to comply, the less she put Kiana's life in danger.

"This fucking headache is killing me and I don't know if I can fight the Bitch Queen a second time without some serious damage or hurting Kiana," Adam glared at the Herrscher as she put her hand on Kiana's shoulder, near her neck. "The bitch has me by the balls!" Adam seethed and his anger was reflected on his body as his skin turned deadly pale and his veins pulsed furiously in red along with his emotions-!

ZZZZZOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!

Adam flinched and covered both ears as a powerful boom echoed around them. When he regained his hearing, he raised again his head and was surprised at the futuristic aerial battleship flying over them.

"What the fuck?!"

---

"Is this the Herrscher?" Murata Himeko, now with a Schicksal military jacket over her red dress, asked with an incredulous tone as she observed the Third Herscher levitating over the city's debris in the Bridge main screen. "I was waiting for, you know, something more like a horrible monster with tentacles, shooting lasers and a long tongue? Not a young girl scowling at us."

"You have strange fantasies about the Honkai, Major." One of the officers in the bridge of the aerial battleship, The Hyperion, commented. She fixed her glasses. "Have you been bothered lately, Madam?"

Himeko growled. "Someone interrupted my date. What do you think?" She asked rhetorically. Then she gained a serious look. "Everybody to their battle stations! I want that Herrscher lighted up like a Christmas tree!" Everybody shouted 'Yes, ma'am!' and went to work as the Hyperion made its way towards the Herrscher. Many gates in the Hyperion opened and revealed many cannons and some machineguns on its frame. The weapons started to spin, ready to take down the Honkai threat.

"I hope this doesn't bite me in the ass, Teri," Himeko thought. She groaned as multiple alarms sounded in the bridge.

"Major! Herrscher's energy is rising!"

"God damnit!" She cursed. "Quick! Maximum power to the shields!" She ordered.

Everyone inside The Hyperion braced for the impact. The powerful frame of the battleship groaned in protest as it was assaulted by the Herrscher's powerful attack. Some of the screens exploded and pipes and many machines exploded in a shower of sparks during the offensive. More than one thanked the minds behind the creating o the energy shields used on the ship.

"[WARNING! EXTERNAL ARMOR PLATING COMPROMISED. POWER GENERATION DOWN BY 40%. RECOMMEND CURSE OF ACTION: WITHDRAWAL.]" The system announced in the bridge.

"Major! We can't afford to take another hit like that! We need to retire!" Some of the officers screamed as multiple alerts kept coming out on their terminals. Himeko cursed as she released her hold from a chair she grabbed to not fall during the attack. Himeko's mood worsened as the sirens kept blaring around her.

She gritted her teeth. "This brat has no idea how expensive is to fix this ship!" She couldn't take another month eating instant ramen!

"Major!" One of the officers called her. "The attack fried part of our weapons system! There are also reports that some of the reactors were blocked out for the possibility of a meltdown!" Himeko knew what that meant. Much money, a long and tiring reprimand from Theresa and god…

The paperwork….

"That's it!" Himeko threw over her jacket and started to bark new orders. "Activate nuclear reactors 5 and 6. Maintain furnace putout and switch to reserve power!" Then she added before leaving through the door. "Bring us down to the Herrscher's altitude in 2 minutes!" She started to run in the hallway.

"Wait, you are not thinking about using 'that', are you?" The officer with glasses asked while running after her as Himeko was leaving a clothes trail behind her. The officer was worried, knowing the consequences that will be on the Major's body.

"Do we have a better option?" She remarked.

"But the Council ordered to capture, not to kill the Herrscher," the officer insisted. "The Nexus System leaving nothing behind when something is hit by it!"

"Thanks for the obvious. We are the ones getting killed here," Himeko remarked. "Teri, you seriously owe me one for this."

"Enough! You take the control while I sort this out," Himeko ordered one last time before disappearing behind a large metal door.

At the end of the room, there was an iron plate surrounded by a set of machines that started to hum with many cables glowing in anticipation as the frame started to load.

"This is going to hurt tomorrow!" She thought before throwing away a set of really daring panties and stepping foot in the middle of the iron plate. Once loaded, the machine started to dress the Major for an unforgivable night.

"Damn it, Teri!"

---

The Lighting Queen thought for a moment that nothing will interfere in her business this time.

Sure, Kiana's naive insistence to save the pathetic girl and the Worm's deal to fight later was a delay to fulfill her role as a Queen to wipe out the human scum from Earth, but as lately; one thing after another kept popping out of nowhere! Raising her pent frustration.

Curses! She didn't have this much trouble when she was taking over the weak girl's mind!

And now, the humans dare to fly over her?! A Queen!?

"No one is allowed to be above a Queen!" The Herrscher screamed in anger and flew above the ship. She lifted her free hand and more lighting was drawing from her, creating a powerful storm around her. She will show them what happens to humans when they overstep their boundaries!

"Die!" All the energy condensed into a deadly ray and was shot towards the large battleship, completely hitting the boat. The Herrscher gave a little grin in satisfaction at seeing the damage done to the boat. Some parts of its frame fell to the lifeless city and others were releasing smoke and some flames. She looked down in disdain.

"Know your place, scum." She said coldly. She returned her eyes to Adam. Or to be precise, she tried. The Herrscher frowned in anger and moved her gaze to the ship's main deck hissing doors. Her eyes narrowed as the doors opened and revealed Himeko donning a bulky scarlet armor.

It covered the upper areas of her body, from the middle of her waist to up. Her head was covered by a visor, feeding Himeko with data about the ship and the Herrscher in front of her. The chest and leg area was less covered to give her a slight advantage in mobility. Also, there was a long thick cable coming from the Hyperion, connected to the back of her battle suit, powering it. A mechanic arm from below appeared and pulled out a massive sword. Himeko grabbed it tightly and went on guard.

"You have a terrible attitude, brat!"

The Herrscher narrowed her eyes. The pathetic human had the bravery to oppose and insult her. How she dare! She will need to teach her a lesson before killing her.

"Insect! How dare you oppose me?!" Mei snarled and raised her left hand. From it, a ray of plasma formed. "I will reduce you to ashes!" The Queen shot the powerful beam of energy towards the Major. Himeko didn't think twice before activating her ace.

"[NEXUS SYSTEM: ACTIVATED!]" Her visor informed her as Himeko clenched her teeth to endure the incredible heat filling her body.

"Sorry. I won't go down like this until I find myself a nice guy!" Himeko shouted and gripped her sword that went engulfed in a powerful layer of energy. Himeko quickly brought the sword in front of her just in time as the ray of concentrated plasma reached her. Himeko's sword was like a sharp stone in the middle of a river, ready to endure the powerful wave of energy coming onto her. Himeko's knuckles went white as the sword barely held on the powerful attack from the Herrscher.

"Come on!" She screamed while holding on the annihilating beam.

BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

Amazingly, the sword held on and a powerful beam of energy split in two at the sword and washed off the entire zone. The entire area went covered in a powerful shinning that momentarily blinded the Hyperion cameras and Shicksal's satellites. Once the shinning and the beam died out, the Hyperion's crew panicked as the cameras' visuals were restored. Buildings, debris, and the Honkai creatures were leveled to the ground. Easy to say that Nagazora City had now a bigger crater in one of its prosperous districts. If the sight didn't make things worse, the mood went worse at the message displayed in Himeko's visor.

"[WARNING! FUSION REACTOR OVERHEATING. SHUTDOWN IN 10 SECONDS.]"

"Keep the damn thing running!" Himeko cursed in the intercom. "I don't care how just you do it!" Himeko gasped as she leaned on the sword for support.

"Admirable," the Herrscher commented with slight respect. "I never expected you to survive this." The Queen smirked coldly. "But that only makes you barely better than the insects I have been killing and passable aside from that Worm." She charged another beam. "You bore me. Time for you to disappear." Himeko started to sweat and cursing internally. She didn't know if the Nexus System, no, if the ship could afford another attack. She didn't expect the Herrscher to be this powerful!

"Farewell, in-!" The Queen stopped in mid-sentence as she heard a powerful howl of pain coming from behind and a felt a strange shiver running on her back. Acting on instinct, the Herrscher abruptly leaned to the side. In a blink, a red blur appeared where she was previously. It threw something from itself towards the main deck and pulled. The Herrscher gritted her teeth and was about to demand who dared to interrupt her until she took note of the appearance of the mysterious individual.

"You don't hold to your words, Worm," she hissed at seeing his condition. For her part, Himeko had something else to say.

"What the fuck are you?!"

---

Adam had seen many things in his life.

Some of them were pretty crazy, funny, and even lewd. Good times.

There were also, some… nasty things that had made his blood boil in anger.

But to be honest, he didn't see coming a big and large aerial battleship showing from nowhere while he was at the brink of collapsing from overusing and enduring the Honkai bitching. If the pain in his head wasn't enough, shit had to hit the fan as soon as the large ship showed its guns, making the Bitchy Queen going into a tantrum.

"Fuck!" Adam cursed as the energy beam sent hit straight the battleship. The Herrscher's attack shook up the area. Adam wasn't an expert in Physic, but he had a hunch that the strong vibrations were somehow related to the electricity and magnetic fields, given her powers and the crazy shit the Honkai could do. He didn't dwell deeply on it. He was more focused on transforming his hands in a downward version of his claws and dug them in the debris behind him, trying to not fall.

When the attack was over, Adam undid his transformation, and not a second later, he vomited a lot of blood and fell facedown. He didn't mind that he was lying on a puddle of his blood. For a moment, the noise around went mute and he enjoyed the mix of warm and cold that his blood and the pavement offered. He just needed a moment to rest. Yes. Just some minutes. He closed his eyes and decided to take a nap.

He couldn't feel, he couldn't see anything.

"Listen only to the sound of my voice." The female voice was gentle.

"Let your mind relax. Let your thoughts drift. Let the bad memories fade. Let peace be upon you." The voice whispered as he continued floating…in his mind.

###

["Hey, Adam, tell me. Are you going to give up?"]

#####

"Surrender yourself to your dreams. Let them wash over you like the gentle waves of the bluest ocean. Let them envelop you. Comfort you."

[You know. I always thought that you were brave. Really. The time you stood up for me was incredible,] her voice was like honey.

"Imagine somewhere calm. Imagine somewhere safe. Imagine yourself in a frozen forest."

[I was crying, like, a lot. I was known for liking the feeling of adrenaline. The air leaving your lungs as a big dog chased me or the fear but also the excitement mixed with it when I messed up with the bullies or mean teachers,] she laughed dryly.

"You're standing in a clearing. Trees around you so tall they touch the sky. Pure white snowflakes fall all around."

[But, when the people I trusted the most betrayed me, I didn't know how to react. I trusted them. With all my secrets and all my heart could offer.] Her voice sounded vulnerable.

"You can feel them melt on your skin. You are not cold. It cannot overcome the warmth of your beating heart."

[I froze like a statue as they berated me down. It hurt. It really, fucking hurt. I trusted them with everything and they stabbed me on the back!]

"Can you hear it? You only have to listen. Can you hear it slowing?"

[But you didn't do any of that. Even when the stakes were high and against you. Even when I was planning to throw you to take the blame for my fuck ups… You kept silent as you pommelled their faces. You didn't even mind when they involved your guardians. You only said, 'I am repaying something from long ago. I am only making it even.']

"You're slowing it. You are in control. Calm. At peace."

[You always paid back what you were offered. Even when nobody told you to do it. It was, no, it has always been your habit. I think there is another meaning behind it, but I will not dig deep on it.]

"YOU ARE IN THE FRO#####!"

[I want to know something…]

"YOU ARE IN THE FROZ############

[WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!] Her voice became an angry thunder.

The vision of the beautiful frozen forest was replaced by eternal darkness. And, in front of him, there was a female figure, covered from head to feet on a dark sheet. No. More like the darkness hugged her body like it was her lover, not wanting to free her from its grasp.

[Why are you lying on a puddle of your blood while that bitch has that naïve girl in her grasp?!]She asked in bewilderment.

Outside his mind, his fingers twitched a bit.

[Do you think that piece of shit it's going to keep her part of the deal?] The woman in dark laughed. [I bet that bitch is going to 'play' with her before she finishes her off. I wonder, what face Siegfried would make after discovering you left his daughter in the claws of that parody of a god?] She snorted. [What a way to pay back the man who took you under his wing when you were clueless about how the 'actual' world works.]

His hands became dark like ink with a tint of red on them. His fingers became longer and his nails sharp like steel. He gripped the debris, leaving deep marks on the cold concrete.

[You are reacting. Good. You feel pain from these words, don't you? Pain means you are still alive. So act like it, Adam.]

He was no longer in that darkness. His eyes shot open and slowly, but surely, he raised from the puddle of blood. His breath was harsh and he felt like his insides were made of jelly. His legs could barely support him and his vision was completely blurry.

[Are you strong, Adam?] He still heard her voice. [Of course, you are! After all, you are still alive even with all the shit you went through long ago,] she whispered next to his ear. [Look up, Adam.] He obeyed. There, barely above the battleship, the Herrscher was charging another deadly beam towards the ship.

The red in his eyes glowed intensely with an unnatural light. Adam was so centered in the Queen that he didn't notice a black stain was moving on his skin, crawling from his back and slowly curling around his neck. His breath abruptly calmed down and there wasn't a sensation of suffocation. Instead, the pain was suddenly muted and Adam felt like he was getting a second breath after all the ordeal from the previous two days.

BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

His body went flying as the whole area shook again at the powerful attack displayed by the Herrscher. Adam didn't react when he kept rolling until he was hammered on a long piece of debris. He didn't react at the metallic taste in his mouth. He didn't react at the cold and hard piece of metal coming out of his chest or the shirt soaked in blood getting bloodier. His gaze was on the Herrscher. For him, the flow of time went still, like reality was a picture and him the observer.

"{Save Kiana, Adam…}," it asked commanded. Its voice sounded distant. "{We owe it to Siegfried…}" It reminded him.

"{Also… the Herrscher is still breathing, Adam,}" it pointed out. Its voice was like a distant echo. "{Kill the Herrscher and (save Mei) from the Will of the Honkai!}"

Thinking became hard for Adam as the two insisted and the stench of dry flowers threatened to overwhelm him.

"{Save, Kiana}"

His breath started to accelerate.

"{Save, Mei}"

His muscles trembled in eagerness.

"{Save, Kiana}"

He was so…

"{Save, Mei}"

So [########] excited! This was… this was the best…! Everything was so clear to him. The smell, the colors, he could even hear the Honkai's movements in the distance!

"{Save, Kiana!}"

The stench, no… now, he started to smell a sweet fragrance.

"{Save. Mei!}"

His eyes narrowed at the Herrscher.

"{Save. Kiana!}"

Arrogant parody of a god. Stupid ####…!

"{Save Mei!}"

She was just a fake. Her power was ######### #####d. So f##, so un######!

"{HHHHELP MEEE!!!}"

HE WIll SHOW Her ###########!

HIS THoUgHts BoIlEd inside hiSS HEad as he TrIeD to kEeP his SANITY…!

[Then, let it go, Adam,] she whispered. [Everything is at your fingertips. You just have to let it go.] Despite the armor, Adam felt something soft leaning on him and warm lips kissing his left cheek lovingly.

Without giving a worry, Adam yanked himself free from the metal rod. Blood started to pool abundantly at his feet. Adam heard something snap inside him, like a cord that couldn't hold more the pressure. And to be honest, it felt well, like he was stretching his arms after so much time.

"[Once she finishes with the ship, Kiana is the next. You have to hurry up!]"

Adam grunted and quickly tendrils started to form around his body, like chitin. A thick and yet light layer of dark-crimson armor hugged his form. At the end of his feet and hands, there were long and sharp talons and claws. They were a mix of crimson and black. He looked like a dark knight with a rickety armor. The armor pulsed a sickening red light at the same pulse of his heart

"LLLLLLEEEEET'SSSSSSSS GGGGGOOOOOO!" Adam screamed as he started to run towards the battleship. His speed started to increase as he started to come closer to the battleship. Seeing that he was still far from the Herrscher, he decided to cut the distance hastily. With a simple mental command, Adam created two thick tendrils with sharp ends on his shoulders and shot them towards the tallest debris that remained after the previous energy wave. Adam pulled and the result was instantaneous. He was shot out at great speed. The ruins were left behind in a blur as he sailed through the air like a bird. The adrenaline in his system made him smirk. He felt like he was flying for real!

"[You are about to miss her!]" Paying her attention, he created another tendril and as he was soaring in the air, Adam shot it towards the tallest thing around.

The Hyperion.

Adam snarled a bit as the tendril pierced the ship's superficial layer but didn't manage to dig enough to his like. Shrugging off, Adam used his momentum and the tendril to direct himself above the ship. His claws trembled in eagerness. As he saw the Herrscher on his way, Adam was about to throw a slash at her midsection until he was stopped by the voices.

"[Stop! There is still the blood oath! If you break it, you lose your legs and it's over!"] She screamed in concern. Adam smirked in response.

"I DoN'T cArE!"

Adam brought down a powerful slash towards the back of the Queen. As the claw came towards the Herrscher's back, Adam howled in pain as he felt a powerful shiver and hot stab on his lower back.

"AAAAHHHHHHH!"

"[Idiot.]"

Knowing that his surprise attack failed, Adam decided to throw a tendril towards the main deck, between the Herrscher and the other person cladded in red armor and pulled himself down while spinning. He landed with a strong and wet 'thud' and glared at the Herrscher. He hissed, in anger towards the Herrscher and pain. Once she took note of his bloody features and hissing, she snarled.

"You don't hold to your words, Worm," she remarked.

"What the fuck are you?!"

Adam turned his head to look at Himeko. She recoiled in horror and disgust at seeing his features. The maniac smile filled with pain; the red orbs shining with an unnatural light, surrounded by the black of his sclera; his crumbled chitin armor pulsing a sickening red every so often; and…

"Oh, God!" She thought in fright. "He has a hole on his back and he is just smiling!" Himeko felt the need to vomit at seeing the puddle of crimson blood forming under his wobbling feet. Himeko had experience dealing with cruel deaths and gruesome injuries during her career as a Valkyrie. She had seen many things, memories that gave her nightmares that lasted for weeks before coming to terms with them. But nothing like she was seeing before her.

"This is so sick!"

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Himeko shuddered at hearing his distorted laugh. "Strong. Strong. Strong. I am strong!" He turned his head again and looked at the Herrscher. "You are strong. So strong and yet so weak!" He laughed. Himeko didn't understand his logic to laugh at the Herrscher's face. None of this made sense!

"Weak. Weak. Weak. Weak!" He shouted while grinning maniacally. For her part, the Herrscher scowled. "You must have gone crazy, Worm. While you were a persistent and brave pest; now I only see a rabid dog that needs to be put down," she raised her left hand again and another beam of energy formed. "Rest in peace!" She shot the beam down on him. Himeko gritted her teeth and brought her sword to intercept the attack and reignited her sword. While she was still disturbed by what was happening, she pushed back her disturbance for the young man and hoped that the beam didn't roast them. For his part, Adam smiled. His chitin armor trembled at his chest level and it pushed out two familiar objects to him; Omen and Gungnir. He grabbed the weapons and the tendrils spread from his hands to the weapons swiftly. With a hand flick, he summoned Gungnir's barrier and nailed the endpoint of the spear on the deck's floor. The barrier grew large enough to cover him and Himeko from the attack.

BBBBOOOOOMMMMMM!

The sky night was again illuminated as the beam was brought down on Gungnir's barrier. The Hyperion shook in protest as it took the force of the strike. After some moments, the glow finally died down. The Herrscher smiled superiorly; expecting a scorch mark on the battleship main deck and it crashing down. Her expression turned sour as she saw that the Hyperion was still in one piece. There were many scorches on it and she was sure that a piece of it fell down the city, but that wasn't what made her angry.

"How is this possible?!" She screamed in anger at seeing Gungnir's barrier slowly falling like it was made of ashes, showing that the Worm and the Major were still alive and with some scratches and light burns on them.

"Hahahahaha!" he laughed. His chitin armor opened a hole and swallowed what remained of the spear. "The strong survive. The strong rules. The strong do not flinch before the weak!" He started to repeat incoherently. "Strong. Strong. Strong. Strong. Strong. !" The Queen couldn't help but think of him as an aberration as he kept repeating the words all over again. She cringed in disgust as she spotted that the blood kept dripping under him, making a bigger puddle of red.

Taking advantage of the Herrscher focusing on Adam, Himeko sprinted away from him and brought down her energy sword. "Here!" The sword hissed and released a powerful slice of energy. The Queen grunted and flipped to the side, safely dodging the energy. It continued traveling until it stroke the poor remains of a building.

BBBOOOOOMMMMMM!

The explosion destroyed what little remained of the construction and shook the ground. It was powerful but nothing compared to the power of the Herrscher.

Himeko's worries skyrocket when her battle suit suddenly stiffened and a new notification appeared on her visor.

[ERROR! ENERGY LEVELS DANGEROUS TO THE USER. ERROR! CODE: 8575. REBOOT SYSTEM IN #### ERROR!]

"What the hell?! This has never happened before!" Himeko gritted her teeth in anguish. She was sweating a lot and her breath was harsh. She fell awkwardly on her knees in front of the others. "I am a sitting duck here!" She thought furiously in what could have caused the sudden failure in her battle suit. Despite this was happening in front of the Herrscher, she didn't mind what happened with Himeko, the Queens' attention was centered on the mad man.

"Enough!" The Herrscher screamed and released a powerful shockwave of electricity that struck the Hyperion. In the bridge, the officers screamed on alarm as the controls flicked and released sparks. "I have wasted time entertaining a mediocre insect and a disgusting worm!" Suddenly, more electricity started to gather around the Queen. "Oh shit. This isn't good!" Himeko said between gasps. The toll of using the Nexus System started to take effect. She knew that the entire ship was doomed if nothing was done fast. She shifted her gaze to Adam, who suddenly went silent as soon as the Herrscher screamed.

"H-Hey! Kid!" She called to him. She didn't know if she could trust, no, if she could even get a positive reaction from him that wasn't a crazy rambling. The fight was turning ugly and she would rather live another day to drunk herself after complaining to Teri for making her take the fucking mission!

Her expression turned worried at seeing the powerful electric storm forming over them. "Kid! We need to stop her if we want to see another day!" She yelled at him. Himeko snarled when Adam didn't react. "Did you hear me? Kid, I said-!"

"Disgusting?" Himeko stopped mid-sentence as he spoke to himself in a cold voice. The Herrscher smirked. "Did I offend you, disgusting Worm?" She asked mockingly. "Disgusting?" As he repeated the same question out loud, the Major and the Queen noticed that his posture became…aggressive.

With a jerk of his hand, Adam brought out Omen. "FUCK YOU!" Adam screamed in rage as he swept the red blade on the main deck surface. His action made sparks appear on the surface, making a long and six deep inch slash on the metal frame. "What the hell are you doing?! Repairing this ship is expensive as hell!" Himeko screamed angry at seeing the long cut on the layer. He growled, not paying attention to her before four tendrils formed on his back. Adam crouched, his legs followed, although they clumsy, given his injuries. His extra limbs shrank and before Himeko could keep complaining, they launched him straight towards the Herrscher's at great speed. In response to his action, the Herrscher created a blade of pure electricity and blocked his attack. Her arm trembled a little at blocking the strong blow. She couldn't use both arms given that she was still carrying Kiana, giving Adam a slight advantage in strength.

"I won't allow you to touch me again with that grotesque weapon!" The Herrscher stated with anger. Adam just growled and glared at her. Seeing that he didn't have the means to fly like her, the Queen tried to shove him down with her blade, but to her disgust, he latched to her wing by using the two tendrils from his back. Adam hissed as his tendrils held the wing and sparks flew at the contact.

"HOW DARE YOU TO TOUCH THE WINGS OF GOD?!" She exploded in rage. "UNHAND ME, WORM!" The Queen yelled but Adam just smirked mockingly. Being pissed off, the Herrscher raised the power in her wings. "GRRR!" Adam growled in pain as the electricity started to burn his tendrils. One burned down. He applied more force on his sword, moving it slowly but closer to the Herrscher's body.

"Don't' think for a moment that you will defeat me!" She raised again the power on her wing. The air around them gave off the smell of burned meat. "Stronger!" Adam screamed on her face. The three tendrils slowly regenerated and became thicker.

"[Bring her down!]" Adam tightened his hold on the wing. The tendrils were still burning, but the effect didn't deteriorate as quickly as before, but unexpectedly, a strong headache started to assault his head, making him grunt in pain as he felt his mind splitting like broken crystal. He didn't understand why. He was fine before! Why it was happening now?!

"[Pull it!]" He started to tighten even more her wing, cracking it bit by bit. Still, the pain became too much for him to bear. Adam's hold on the wing faltered, slowly losing the grip and the strength put on the Herrscher's wing. Immediately, she took note of this. Her angry expression shifted for one of satisfaction and arrogance. "You should know that Worms can't hope to defeat God's Will!" She redoubled her efforts to free herself from his grasp. Adam started to see blurry, but he tried his best to not pass out. (He must save them!)

"G-give…give… her… back…" Kiana whispered among the battle noise, yet they heard her. Her voice was like a ray of light that pierced Adam's mind for a short moment. The two fighters looked bewildered at the silver-haired girl in the Herrscher's arm. Both thought she was unconscious. "Give… Mei… back to… us!" For Herrscher's growing anger and surprise, Kiana also took a grip on the Queen's wing, and like Adam, she tried to break it. Her right hand started to burn and bleed. The Herrscher scoffed at this while she kept shoving off Adam. "You are still alive. Interesting." One of Adam's tendrils burned down. The last two were close to being destroyed. "I will get rid of the Worm and then take care of you." Hearing this, Adam's little sanity made him snarl in protest. He had... to save, Kiana!

"No one dies without my permission." As the pain threatened to take him, he felt like he was reaching something. Like a nostalgic feeling. "N-No…" Kiana's grip on the wing tightened. To their growing surprise, it started to present long cracks. The Herrscher couldn't believe it. A human girl was breaking her wing!

"You. Will. Give. Mei. Back. To. Us!" Using the last of her strength, Kiana pulled with a strong jerk, and to the Herrscher's horror, she managed to break the wing made of pure energy. Not being able to hold on for much longer, Adam released his grip and fell on his side atop the ship's deck. The red blade disappeared as he fell. He smirked seeing how the wing's rest started to dissolve in mots of light.

"I-Impossible!" The Herrscher screamed in negation. "H-How I could lose two times in a row!?" The Herrscher started to lose control of her body. Mei and Kiana floated for a moment in a bubble of light before they came down slowly. The bubble released mots of light around on its pace. Before being shoved back in Mei's mind, the Herrscher screamed internally.

"I won't forget this! Both of you prepare yourselves when I come back!"

The two girls held into each other's arms before resting softly on the ship's deck.

"[Kiana is safe, Adam,]" she whispered. Hearing this, Adam's expression shifted to one of calmness. He tried to get up but failed at the first try. It cost him a great effort to do it but Adam managed to get on his feet after three tries. Limping, he started to walk towards the girls. He stopped two meters away from them. "[We are half done. There is still something else to do. You know what it is,]" she purred on his ear. He numbly nodded. With Omen's handle still on his grip, Adam summoned the blade with a clumsy jerk. After the battle and the long use over the last two days, the blade was reduced now to a very thin blade, basically resembling a short knife.

"[It's so easy. Really. You just have to drive it directly to her heart. Swift and simple. She won't feel a thing now that she is sleeping."] As he got closer, Adam felt like he was forgetting something.

"What do you think you are doing?" Adam stopped and turned clumsy on his feet. Before he was Himeko standing without her visor and free to move. She sported a fine cap of sweat on the visible parts of her body. "Did you hear me?" He nodded numbly. "Then, what you were about to do with that knife, kid?" Adam looked at Himeko like she was making a stupid question.

"I am going to kill the Herrscher," He stated as a matter of fact while his voice became normal again. Not waiting for her reaction, Adam turned and almost resumed his walk until he was roughly grabbed by his shoulder by Himeko.

"The Herrscher is defeated, kid. There is no need to kill her." Adam turned slowly to her. "Plus, HQ wants the Herrscher alive and it will be my ass if I come back with a corpse instead of a girl alive." He felt her hand and eyes on his body, tensing and ready to act if needed. Himeko tried to not shudder at stepping on the blood trail. "How about you put that thing down. I promise that we will treat yours and their injuries." Himeko spoke with a soft tone, trying to convince him. She didn't want to use force on him. He looked worse for wear and she didn't get how he hasn't died from all the blood loss. For his part, he slowly tensed his muscles to move. While it could be difficult, he may be able to finish the job in an instant if he pushed the woman back enough to sink the knife in (Mei's) the Herrscher's…

"A-Adam?" He along with Himeko directed their gazes to Kiana, who by some miracle, regained her consciousness. She looked worse for wear too. Her breath was harsh, there was a fine cape of sweat on her blanched skin and her back was stained in red. She looked like she could collapse at any second. As her eyes barely focused on Adam, she immediately understood the situation at seeing the cold and mad light in his eyes.

"S-stop." She tried to get up by using her injured hand, but only got to harm herself more. She hissed in pain. "A-Adam. I-it's over," Kiana kept her gaze on Adam's cold eyes. "We… beat her. Mei…" Kiana battled to keep her eyes open. She felt so tired. "Mei is… back. Adam. You…" She coughed a stain of blood. Himeko worried and thought of going to aid her, but she felt Adam's posture was still tense. Ready to go for the kill at any moment. His sudden change in moods raised red flags in her mind. "He could even harm or even kill me to just kill the Herrscher…!"

"[Poor. She doesn't know what she is saying.]" She sounded empathetic for Kiana."[Do it. If you have to break Siegfried's daughter little heart to protect her, so be it,]" he felt her sweet and deadly breath on his face. "[A monster dies and a young girl lives. A fair trade, don't you think?]"

"Adam…" Her baby blue eyes pleaded him. "You…" Adam prepared to shove Himeko aside and lunge with his knife in hand to kill the Herrscher…

"Adam…" Her ragged voice said between laborious gasps… "You promised me, Adam! Why?!" She cried out in anger and disappointment as a big shadow was cast behind her. "You promised me, Adam!" His eyes turned glassy as ########e####!

"You said that we would help her! Not kill her!" Himeko saw the exasperation on Kiana's face as she screamed at the young man. "So his name is Adam, huh?" She noted that his posture loosen up and Omen's red blade blinked off. Himeko released a breath she didn't know she was holding. She unhanded him and touched her communicator, which was in her left ear, and contacted the bridge.

"Murata to the bridge," she began. "As much as I will like to keep protocol, I am tired and in need of a long bath. So, I need a team of medics ASAP out here. Don't worry about the Herrscher. Right now she is incapacitated and I doubt she will wake up for a long while, but seriously, I have two youngsters in need of urgent medical treatment like yesterday." Himeko frowned as she didn't hear a comeback, especially from one of the smart asses she had for officers.

"Bridge, do you copy?" She heard static in response. She tried it again. "Bridge?"

"Major!" She heard a distant scream in the channel. "The-the –ZZZZ!- system! –ZZZZZZ!-"

"What?" Himeko tensed when she heard a metallic sound on the Hyperion's front edge. It was a machine gun turret, one of many that stepped at Hyperion's top. She watched as it started to spin slowly. She had a bad feeling upon seeing this.

"Major! –ZZZZ!- weapon –ZZZ!- targets!" The cannon started to spin faster and slowly aim at them. Himeko didn't take two seconds to get the message.

"Get down!" She screamed and tried to push down the people. Tried.

"W-What?!"

Himeko was suddenly yanked back by the cable jointed to her battle suit. The elevator's doors from where she came from half-closed. Close enough to let pass the cable but not enough to make her fall back inside.

"Agh!" Himeko choked a scream as her back crashed against the doors.

BBRRROOOOMMMMMM!

"What the fuck!?" Struggling, Himeko raised her head when she heard a known and familiar sound. Her visage of pain was replaced for one of horror as the machine gun started to shoot a burst of bullets erratically, shooting and stopping at times. Seeing this, she tried to break free, but, as much as Himeko tried to free herself and help the teenagers, she couldn't do it. The cable was meant to have a strong grip on her battle suit and her hands couldn't reach the manual release.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Himeko flinched when a sudden feminine shriek of pain fell on the deck. Himeko knew that the scream didn't come from one of the girls. Kiana had barely the energy to stay awake and reacted the same way as her.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"It's coming from the communication system…" Himeko realized. She started to wonder, what the hell was going on tonight until she saw that the machine gun's aim was close to them.

"There is no fucking way I am going to die by something like this…!" She cursed and her attempts became more desperate.

"I killed you." She glanced at Adam. While she couldn't see his expression, she heard his voice filled with coldness and deep hate. Himeko didn't think too much about it as the turret finally aimed straight at them. She clenched her hands and teeth as she braced for the bullets.

"I am sorry Teri…"

---

He was standing numbly on the ship's deck, glancing down at-

He was again standing on an endless void. Pure darkness around him. He remembered something before he showed up here. As he tried to understand what was happening, he smelled cinnamon roll and his eyes widened when someone materialized in front of him.

"Celeste…"

She was a beautiful curvaceous girl with long brown hair and green hazel eyes. Her hair extended below her waist and she had a cute mole under her left eye. She was dressed in a blue nightgown. Adam's heart clenched when her usual warm and tender expression was replaced by pain and barely restrained fear.

There was a powerful sound and before his eyes, another person appeared next to Celeste.

"Katherine…"

She was a cute girl with short brown hair and brown eyes. Her hair was a bit darker than Celeste's and fell only to the base of her nape. Her frame was athletic and she had two little scars below her chin. She was wearing a red t-shirt and green shorts. Just like with Celeste, Adam's heart clenched as the usual happy and carefree attitude of his cousin was replaced by one of great anger and despair. Both girls were on their knees, hugging each other, seeking comfort in their embrace

In the distance, behind the girls, a tall shadow appeared and started to walk towards them. The pure blackness started to fell and in its place, a handsome and blonde man wearing a brown coat took its place. His eyes were closed and he was smiling mischievously. His worry was replaced by fury.

He glanced down and he (didn't see Kiana or Mei,) saw the most important women in his life whimpering in horror. They looked at him and their eyes begged him to not get hurt to protect them…(again.) His fury grew and everything turned a shade of red. He was not going to get hurt, for their sake. No, he was going to hurt the man, he was going to stop him from ever laying a finger on them. He glared back at the man.

"I killed you. I have killed you already," his voice grew. "Do you hear me? YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD AND I WILL CONTINUE KILLING YOU UNTIL YOU ARE DEAD FOR GOOD!" he roared, his voice more monster than human. The man opened his eyes and they were soulless black. He pulled a gun from his coat's pocket and aimed it at the girls. Adam's vision shifted and everything went red. It didn't matter if he was tired, it didn't matter if he was at his wit's end, it didn't matter if he was bleeding buckets; the fucker was going down, no matter what.

Crimson-black smoke poured from his body as he got in front of the girls. Adam felt stabs of fire on his body, multiple holes taking place on his body as the bullets rained down. Not minding it, his arms transformed into two and long tendrils with sharp blades at its end. His head buzzed loudly. Adam grunted and twisted to the right as much as his hip allowed. With one last look of hate to the man, Adam launched his tendrils and they ripped the man to shreds. As the remains started to fade from existence, Adam glanced back to the girls. He smiled knowing they were safe.

He took a step forward…

And fell on a puddle of warm crimson before passing out.