Disclaimer:
I do not own Honkai Impact 3rd. All rights belong to Hoyoverse
Chapter 1:
Beginning After the End
She lay amidst the metal debris like a flower blooming in endless ruins.
Her treasured pendant had withered alongside her.
Her fox-like ears picked up on the sound of heavy footsteps, each thumping increasing in proximity until she could hear his breath heaving relentlessly.
"Kent...?"
"I'm here…"
She couldn't help but smile.
"I was with her..." The woman trailed off, her voice dimmer and sorrowful. Nonetheless, the small smile that crossed her broken expression remained the same. "She was still my sister...until the very end. I'm honoured to be her sister."
"Sakura." His voice was trembling, and the turmoil within him was leaking out. Shackled by his emotions, the young man crouched down across her, his hand gently caressing her soft, battered, and cold cheek.
"Don't give me that look..." she whispered, her words carried by the serenity of the evening, and on her deathbed, she saw for the very first time the millions of expressions glimmering in his eyes.
"I heard everything Elysia said."
Her heart was heavy with the weight of those simple words.
Was it all in vain?
Her question was unanswered.
Yae Sakura gave up on her thoughtless thought and closed her eyes shut; the pain from her breakthrough has subsided, and everything feels numb; struggling with her breathing, she could soon see his face distorting.
Even so, the man never left her side, and she could feel his presence and warmth seeping into hers until the very end.
"You are not to blame...
It wasn't anyone's fault except mine..."
Those were the words she couldn't say.
'What a shame...
One's enraged...despite such favor.'
The smile lingered for a brief moment as life ebbed from her eyes.
The bubble slowly died along with the MANTIS's life, and he stood there in silence, his head bowed.
The fire burning within him erupted, causing the entire facility to tremble under the strain.
A static sound reverberates as he listens to a sweet voice cutting through.
"Kent, how is Sakura? "Did she succeed in saving her sister!?"
When she heard nothing but his silences, the other end frowned.
"Heyy, are you listening? If she's with you, I'd like to talk to her!"
Unfortunately, his response was not what she expected.
"I'm turning off the communication now, Elysia."
The last thing the receiver heard was static from his end.
Elysia concluded that the mission was a failure.
She hurried to find Su because she didn't have much time.
"I hope I'm not too late."
He had wondered at the time.
Did he make the correct choice?
"Are you reminiscing with the past, human?" A feminine voice jolted him awake from his deep slumber.
The first thing he saw was eternal darkness, until he averted his gaze away to the source of the voice to look at the woman with silver hair bound by the abyss lying down beside him.
The Herrscher of the End smirked.
The man ignored it, but he pondered her words.
The past she mentioned was buried deep within his mind's thousand memories, locked and forgotten by time, and for some reason, it began to resurface.
Did he come to regret his actions?
Was there truly no other option?
Nothing could undo Yae Sakura's death.
He had lost a dear friend, but it didn't stop there; it caused a schism among the fourteen Flame Chasers, resulting in a battle. It took the entire group of the Flame Chaser to prevent him from destroying the facility and murdering Dr. Mei.
He was eventually exiled, and the Flame Chaser was disbanded.
The MOTH became suspicious of him, and his actions sent him to the Deep End.
Apart from 'them,' the only person who visited him on a regular basis was her, the person he despised the most.
Dr. Mei
"Back then, you asked me... if there was another way to save Yae Rin..." The violet-haired doctor paused mid-sentence and stole a glance at him. He was sitting on steel concrete, half naked, his hands chained together and a device attached on his broad chest.
Dr. Mei was cautious, but that did not deter her from approaching him.
She was concerned about the wounds on his body that refused to heal; wounds caused by both Kalpas and Kevin are visible on his chest.
Dr. Mei regretted everything she had done up to this point. Her actions ruined everything, but in order to save humanity, she is willing to go to any length.
"Perhaps...there is another way to save her, to save the two of them. But...the longer it takes, the faster the Herrscher transformation could occur. Because I was careless, we suffered many casualties..." The doctor bit her lower lip before finishing her sentence with a heavy sigh "Nonetheless, everything wasn't for naught! We save humanity and avert a disaster!"
Maybe she's right.
But there's no point in talking any longer.
Enough is enough.
"I'm done with you Mei…don't talk to me ever again." He stated coldly and send a death glare toward her.
Dr. Mei's eyes widened before she gritted her teeth and clenched her mouth shut.
The memories she shared with him felt like they were just yesterday, but now...she could see him moving further away from her.
He made a decision, and she will respect it.
That was the only thing she could do to appease his rage.
Dr. Mei took a deep breath to calm herself down before saying one final sentence.
"I talked to the superiors earlier today... You're exiled from here in 86400 seconds...never to return... That was the only thing I could do...to you, my dearly beloved person."
"Snap out of it...the seal is corrupting your mind as well!"
How amusing.
He wasn't even a Herrscher, but the seal appears to have manipulated his mind as well.
This technique...was what he considered a last resort, capable of changing a person's heart by force.
Even if she loathed this, there was nothing she could do but accept her fate.
Such mastery of the sealing technique that it cost her influence of her mind and emotions.
Why is this mortal so powerful?
Such a thought might seem implausible to her...but there was never any doubt in her mind. She did lose to him, to this lone mortal who appeared unexpectedly and turned the tides back in Humanity's favour.
Because of his heroic actions, the remaining humans were put to a deep slumber, and he, as humanity's last soldier, remained behind as an overseer over the seal.
Despite this, millions of years have passed in the world outside of the seal.
"What is this...?" He pondered aloud, amused by humanity's number one foe's reaction. "How can someone like you show of that kind emotion, especially towards someone like me...a human you used to despise? Are you making fun of me, Herrscher?" The last mortal inquired, his face filled with genuine surprise and amusement rather than anger.
The Herrscher snorted, amused by the fact that he was correct.
"We'll be trapped in this void for all eternity. There is no turning back, and there was never any hope of salvation. You robbed me and humanity of everything. It is only fair that you receive this type of punishment."
He was right.
Why should someone like her be concerned about such trivial matters?
These feelings would never have surfaced if it hadn't been for the goddamn seal that kept the two trapped forever.
Nonetheless, within those million years she spent in this seal with him, she learned and was gradually beginning to understand... Humanity isn't as bad as she imagined. On a white canvas, the good was a mix of black and white. She despised them for everything they had done to her, but they were no better.
The Honkai and everything associated with it were despised by humanity, including beings like her, the Herrscher.
The two's gruesome war came to an end.
So, the Herrscher spoke,
"Would you like to escape this calamity and reach the daybreak humanity has always sought and strived for?"
The last mortal remained silent until his lips twitched and widened into a smirk.
"It took you a long time to surrender, Herrscher of the End."
For the first time after spending time with each other within the void dimension, the eternal darkness that surrounded the dimension began to fade, seemingly like the sun rising across the horizon, as the two saw a blinding light that enveloped the voidness dimension as the new dawn arrived.