Sorry for the super late update!
Disclaimer: I do not own Honkai Impact 3rd
Enjoy!
Those that called St. Freya Academy home watched with looks of awe and joy as the recently refurbished and repaired Hyperion lit up the night sky with its cannonfire, the sheer amount of firepower that the battleship had at its disposal was almost enough to blind anyone looking right at it.
But while it was a welcoming sight for students and Valkyries alike, it was the complete opposite for the Anti-Entropy forces.
Realizing that they had all but lost any hope of emerging victorious this night they began to frantically retreat, hoping that they would be able to see the light of the next morning only to be bombarded by the Hyperion. As the Schicksal floating battleship rained down hell on them, taking scores of them out with every passing minute, the valkyries and students decided that they were not going to sit idly by as the golden opportunity to drive their invaders out of their home presented itself.
"ADVANCE!" A Valkyrie yelled out before battle cries filled the air as valkyries and students alike swarmed out of their makeshift defensive frontline, brandishing their weapons as they joined the fray.
Layla Gunnhildr and Mashu Schariac were at the forefront of this advance, the shielder leading the charge with her shield and her teammate behind her taking out any that walked into her sights.
Victory was nearly theirs.
Yet whilst this happened there was another battle that was reaching its end as well. A battle that had no spectators, but was no less fierce than the ones being decided across the academy grounds.
In a random hallway within one of St. Freya Academy's buildings two combatants were staring each other down with a ferocity that could make any combatant think twice. They had their own injuries inflicted by the other yet neither were willing to back down, if anything their injuries were pushing them to fight even more ferociously.
Yet it was odd that such an intense battle was not being fought by humans but rather…cats.
On one end of the hallway Stan felt exhilarated. Despite the numerous wounds that his unknown black feline opponent had inflicted on him, the cream-colored cat could not keep the delighted expression on his face.
This was what he lived for! The thrill of the fight, the thrill of finally having an opponent that could keep up with him. As a warrior the cat lived for the fight, loved the feeling of blood pumping through his veins as he clashed with his enemies. There was no better pleasure in the world for him.
Yet warriors of his skill seemed to be in short supply these days. All that was left for him to fight were weaklings whose skills were barely of worth for him to lift a paw up to swat away. He had traveled the world in search of great opponents but the result was severely disappointing.
Had his fellow felines forgotten who they were?! They were descended from Bastet, Sekhmet, the avatars of Artemis and Diana, and the companions of Freyja. They were cats! The strongest and most fiercest species to ever roam this planet!
At least one feline had not forgotten their roots.
On the opposite side of Stan the mystery black feline bared her fangs, hissing out in challenge. If he had met this cat in his journey across the world he could only imagine what legendary battles that they would've had, of how they would've shook this world to its very core!
The cream colored cat would've loved nothing more to indulge in this battle, but alas he had a mission to do. The funny cat mask wearing scientist would want him to finish his mission and he was not in the mood to-
"Retreat Stan," Jackal's voice came through the earpiece on one of the cat's ears. "The invasion force has all but been destroyed, retreat immediately."
If it had been under better circumstances Stan would've just hissed and disobeyed her orders but he knew that if the invasion force was gone then he was now stuck in enemy territory. Territory that they had just tried to take from them.
If he was caught then he could kiss his cat life goodbye.
Immediately his pink eyes began to look for a way to leave the building that he was in so that he could make his way back to the rendezvous location he was told of beforehand. He was small enough that he could evade most trackers and the foliage that surrounded the school were perfect for covering his retreat.
However he made the grave mistake of taking his eyes off his opponent for a split second as the moment he did the black feline struck.
Hissing the black cat pounced on him without warning, quickly subduing him as she pushed him down on the ground with one of her paws on his neck. The cream colored cat immediately tried to escape his predicament but the black feline wasn't having any of that as she brandished her claws, making sure that he could feel them on his throat.
A reminder of what should happen if he did anything that would piss her off.
Despite being placed in a difficult position Stan could not help but feel elated. Yes this was the opponent that he had been waiting for his entire life! One that would test his skills and push him past his limits. Only a true warrior knew to take advantage of their opponent's loss of focus, no matter how miniscule it was.
But he had to get out of here, and that meant transforming into the form that Jackal had gifted him. A part of him felt disgusted that he would have to use this form against an opponent that wouldn't have the same powers as him but it was a sacrifice that he was willing to make.
After he had freed himself and escaped he would track down this black feline once more in order to apologize, with a proper duel of course.
He readied himself to activate the Honkai collar around his neck, bracing himself for the bright flash that would follow his transformation.
However he was stopped right in his tracks when the familiar pink light appeared, yet it wasn't encompassing him but rather the black feline. With wide pink eyes the cream colored cat watched as the black feline transformed into a sleek metallic black panther with two machine guns on her hips.
The transformed panther leaned her head down and hissed warningly out a threat, her claws resting on his Honkai collar.
Try and transform, see what happens.
Stan was shocked at the sudden transformation of the black cat. The identity of the feline suddenly became known to him. She was Styx, the first feline under Jackals 's employment before him. It was the only possible explanation why she had the same transformation powers as him.
But if so why had she left, why had she given up the opportunity to gain more power?! Isn't that what warriors like them craved, the power to make anyone bow to their paws?!
He opened his mouth to ask that question, to ask his predecessor on why she would turn her back on it all, only to be stopped in his tracks when Styx suddenly flung him across the hallway before jumping back…
Before an explosion destroyed the part of the hallway that the two had just dueling in.
Scrambling to his paws Stan peered out of the now gaping hole that had been created in the hallway, allowing him to see where that explosion had originated from. His question was instantly answered when he saw the retreating forms of Anti-Entropy and the World Serpent, desperately trying to escape the valkyries and students that were pushing them back.
So the defenders had pushed their invaders this far in such a quick time then.
That was all that Stan needed to know that his time in St. Freya Academy was over. If he didn't escape now then his chances of staying alive past this night would be practically nonexistent.
However, before he made any attempt to flee the cream-colored cat threw a glance to the opposite side of the now destroyed hallway, hoping to see any sign of the black feline that had saved him.
Why had she thrown him aside from the explosion, weren't they enemies? What possible reason did she have in saving him?
Any hope for an answer would have to wait as once the smoke cleared from the explosion there was no sight of the black feline, or panther, anywhere. Stan could've tried to follow where Styx might've run off to but he could hear the sounds of the valkyries and students coming closer to the building.
And so the cream colored cat turned around and escaped into the night, quickly running into the forestry perimeter of the school…
The only thing on his mind was a certain, perplexing black feline.
It was such a strange thing to notice, especially in the middle of a tense fight, but Bronya Zaychik couldn't help but connect the dots of her opponent's strange transformation and the name of the project that had given him that transformation in the first place.
Prometheus was a titan of Greek mythology that had given fire to humanity. The King of Gods, Zeus, did not agree with his choice and punished him for his gift. His punishment was to be chained to a rock for all of time, where an eagle would come and pluck out his liver everyday.
Project Prometheus…
Transforming whoever received the strange red formula into a being that had the characteristics of a hawk.
.
.
.
If Bronya had told this to Kiana she probably would've laughed, or perhaps not as the most likeliest possibility was that the Kaslana had no clue of what Greek Mythology was and would just look at her with a lost, confused expression.
Perhaps Seele would've laughed at it, the petite gray haired Valkyrie in training had when the realization had come to her without warning.
But she should stop thinking about that because at the moment she just locked eyes with the transformed teenager, a sadistic gleam present in his eyes.
"Oh little bunny," He smiled as he pointed his claw-like hand towards her, a dark blue energy orb building up in it. "Don't think I haven't forgotten about you."
Taking a hit from him before his transformation was lethal enough, but in his new transformed state even getting grazed by an attack would lead to an early death. You needed no further proof but to glance at the current state of the reactor control room that they had been fighting in, the devastation clear to all.
Damaged walls, broken monitors, destroyed circuitry spraying electricity everywhere, it was a miracle that the reactor was even functioning at all. With all of the attacks that were being flung around it was strange that not one of them had hit and caused serious damage.
But Bronya could ponder about that later as her mind worked overtime in order for her to dodge the attack that was about to be fired at her. Before she would've used Project Bunny to block any attacks that she couldn't dodge and while she may not have the same firepower as the black haired teenager her defenses could match his attacks.
Yet now she wasn't so sure her mech's shields could hold against his upgraded attacks.
However she wouldn't have to worry about that problem as a dark red flash of light came from the edges of her vision. Her lips curled into a smile as she could see the teenager before her scowl as he shifted his sights from her over to the one attacking currently him.
"Give it up old man! You're out of your league here!" He berated as he fired the attack meant for her into Joachim's attack, the two meeting in the middle as the dark red and blue energies clashed with each other, trying to overpower the other.
"Perhaps I am," The history professor conceded as he poured more into his attack, seeking to turn the tide. "But I will not go down so easily."
Yet despite his attempts to overpower his clone's attack, they would all end up in vain as he could not gain the upper edge in the attack. His brow furrowed as he poured more power into his attack, only for it to end up in vain as the two attacks dissipated.
"Oh really?" Mocked the teenager, taking no shortage of delight at the sight of the teacher's failed attack. "Because it seems to me that you're running out of steam real fast."
And no matter how much she wanted to retort his words Bronya could not for she knew he was speaking the truth. She was already running on her last fumes of strength and she knew that Joachim was also in the same boat as she was right now, if not worse considering the amount of attacks he had been throwing around.
One look at his brown eyes showed that he could not deny their enemy's words.
"...Then it seems I have no choice," Joachim muttered to himself, his face shifting to a grim expression. It was the first time that Bronya had seen such an expression from the usually calm man, even in a fight like the one they were currently in wasn't enough to break his facade.
Which made it all the more stranger when he reached into his coat, bringing out a spherical object.
The object in question was slightly bigger than a tennis ball, but small enough that it could be held on the palm of a hand. It had gold etchings surrounding it like flowers, yet that was not what had most of Bronya's focus.
It was the color of the orb itself.
Calling its color blue would be like saying that tonight was completely normal. The outer edges of the sphere was a dark blue, almost black, in color but the closer you got to the center the lighter in color it got. Not to mention that the colors within were swirling, making it seem alive…
It was like the handheld orb contained the galaxy itself.
The valkyrie in training did not know what the history professor had pulled out but she knew that he would have no reason to unless it could turn the tide of battle.
And apparently their opponent knew so as well.
"No this time old man! Don't think I don't know what you're trying to pull here!" Reacting quickly the black haired teenager sent a wave of dark blue energy energy towards the brown haired professor. The man raised his opposite hand to retaliate in kind only to freeze up at the last second. Bronya was not sure why he had frozen up but if she had to garner a guess, from how heavily he was breathing, that he had reached his limit.
So instead of the attack meeting dark red energy head on, it had instead crashed into Joachim.
"Joachim-san!" She shouted as the brown haired professor's face contorted in pain, a small grunt leaving his lips, before he was launched into a wall. The impact was rough, even being able to kick up a small cloud of smoke, and the gray haired girl was sure that he had broken a few ribs from the impact alone. Tensing her leg muscles, she readied herself to run over to her teacher and assist him.
However before she could take a foot forward she was stopped in her tracks when out of the smoke a familiar spherical object rolled towards her, its rolling stopped as it tapped once against her foot.
Unsure of what the sphere actually was, Bronya reached down to grab hold of it. The moment her fingers made contact and brought it up did she-!
POWER
AUTHORITY
DIVINITY
It was purely by luck that the Valkyrie in training had not dropped the object in her hands. That wasn't to say that she was still normal after touching whatever this orb was. Her gray eyes were wide open as her breathing became shaky. Her mind reeling from whatever she had felt, trying to identify what that was all about.
And all the while she could feel whatever this foreign feeling was begin to affect her body,
A shocked gasp momentarily tore her from her thoughts to look at the one who made that sound. Standing across from her the usually arrogant black haired teenager was now adopting a look of pure shock. It was as if he had expected her to burst into flames when she touched the orb.
Which at one point it had certainly felt like that was going to happen.
"H-How the hell can you even…you shouldn't be able to-," Whatever he was going to say was cut short as he stopped himself from finishing his words. The shocked expression he had quickly gave way to pure anger as his power reacted to his anger, dark red tendrils acting erratically near him.
"Give that to me!" He roared as he pointed his open palm towards her, another attack building up on it. "That belongs to me!"
Bronya wasn't sure what he was talking about but she knew that his new anger meant that his power would react to it as well. What she wasn't expecting was just how much his anger would boost his power as without much charge the black haired teenager fired off a bigger, much stronger attack right at her.
She should've dodged, should've summoned Project Bunny to her side and surround herself with its shields, to even throw the sphere that she was holding away to not make herself a target. There were a multitude of rational options that she could have done at that present moment.
Yet the course of action she chose was none of that.
For what she chose to do was stand her ground, her gray eyes narrowed in determination at the teenager in front of her, as she lifted the blue orb that she was holding to her eye level.
She was barely registering her own actions, barely aware that she had brought her arm up. She hadn't even noticed after holding the orb that it had begun to affect her, only noticing when the symptoms became too obvious.
Her ears were buzzing, her mind was pounding so hard that it was getting difficult to think. It was even beginning to feel like she was struggling to breathe in this room and that all of her strength had left her. Rationality would have her discard it immediately, throw it away like any attempts of cooking that Kiana would make during dinners where Mei was unable to cook.
Yet she did not so as even in her current impaired state one thing was abundantly clear.
That the orb had power, more power than anything that the Silver Wolf of Urals had ever felt in her life. Even Project Bunny paled in comparison to the power she was feeling right now.
And power was something that she was sorely lacking right now. For the entirety of this fight she had been relying on Joachim to carry most of the fight, fighting both against their opponent and protecting her at the same time. Meanwhile her efforts in the fight were minimal at best as she tried to make herself not a hindrance.
But now it was her turn to protect her friend.
So she allowed the foreign power to flow into her unrestricted. The sudden rush of power nearly made her double over, the last vestiges of her control barely able to keep her steady and even then it was a futile effort as dark spots were already forming in her vision.
There was so much power flowing into her that her body couldn't handle it.
Yet despite everything happening to her she was able to open her mouth and speak four words.
"Star of Eden."
"Release."
Then Bronya Zaychick's entire world went black.
It had been some since the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy had been in a fight.
And it had been a long time since he had been in a fight that had pushed him this far.
Groaning, the brown haired 'professor' dislodged himself from the wall that he had just been thrown into. He was sure that he had at least broken one rib and combining that with the fact he had pushed his body to its limits he knew that the days after tonight would be unpleasant.
That was if he was even going to survive tonight.
Despite the pain he was feeling Welt could not help but feel that he was responsible for this battle even happening in the first place. After all, he and Bronya would not be fighting his clone right now if he had done his duty.
His duty of making sure that the cloning project had been permanently shut down.
It had originally been to heal the injuries that he had sustained during the 2nd Honkai Eruption. Even with his powers as a Herrscher he had been gravely injured by the hands of Sirin, the Herrscher of the Void.
The cloning project had been first created to replace any injured organs that could not be healed by the medical technology of Anti-Entropy. By cloning a replica of himself in a laboratory and extract what organs were needed. It sounded great in theory and could even prove to be a scientific breakthrough.
But his self-loathing for not being able to stop Sirin had plagued him long after the battle of Siberia and he had not pushed through with the project, merely assuming that the project would merely fade away in the dark corners of Anti-Entropy.
If he had just been a little bit stronger, smarter with his actions, he could've finished off the Herrscher of Void while she was still learning how to use her powers. Yet he hadn't and that had resulted in Sirin communing with the Will of the Honkai and releasing an untold amount of death unto the world before she was stopped.
To further add salt onto the wound his self loathing had allowed people to sink their claws into his organization, corrupting the dream that he and some many others had worked hard for.
And the cloning project was one of those casualties.
He couldn't even think about what his clones had gone through, what Ishigami had gone-!
He shook his head clear of those depressing thoughts. This was no time for that, he could do the self-loathing later when he wasn't fighting for his life. Right now was the time to focus.
Shaking some rubble off of his body the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy readied himself to jump back into the fray. Grabbing unto the Star of Eden he would attack before-
Wait a minute…
Where was the Star of Eden?
Panicked he looked down and saw the spherical Divine Key was nowhere to be seen on his left hand. Eyes widening at the loss of it he began to frantically look for where he might've dropped it.
Only for his eyes to see Bronya hold it out in front of her.
"Bronya!" He yelled out as he threw his hand forward, pure panic in his tone. "Don't do it!"
His warning fell on deaf ears as a second after he said those words the blue spherical orb came to life, glowing a dark red hue. Seconds later Dark red energy completely enveloped her entire form and Welt felt his heart drop.
The Star of Eden, one of the Divine Keys of the Previous Era, was a power that not anyone could just pick up and use. The honkai energy that it exuded was absolutely lethal to normal people, even fatal to experienced valkyries.
He knew Bronya's honkai energy control was superb but there was no way that she would be able to properly control the power in the Star of Eden, let alone stand against it.
Yet despite all that was going against the petite Russian valkyrie in training the undercover professor watched in barely concealed surprise when the dark red energy that erratically covered the valkyrie began to recede, enough to the point that the energy began to only be funneled to meet the attack of his clone that he had failed to see earlier.
It was still an erratic torrent of energy that was being fired from the Divine Key, the control of it was barely there.
But the fact that there was even a semblance of control was the most shocking discovery.
Welt Yang could only watch in awe as he witnessed Bronya Zaychick, someone who had never come in contact or even seen the Star of Eden was able to control it.
But the awe of it all quickly vanished when he saw the effects that the Divine Key was having on the petite gray haired Valkyrie.
Red honkai lines were spreading rapidly throughout her body, especially the hand holding the Star of Eden as it looked like a series of interlocking spiderwebs on her skin.
She was controlling it but it was clear that the Divine Key was quickly consuming her. Her body was not at all prepared to handle the power it possessed. If this continued then the Star of Eden would devour her body, until it left nothing of Bronya.
However even if he took the Star of Eden away from her the damage had already been done. The best medical technology that Anti-Entropy or Schicksal could not save her, and even if they did it would not be able to fully heal her injuries.
The only thing that could save her now was power…
The power of a Herrscher.
Specifically his, the power of the Herrscher of Reason.
If he shared his power with Bronya then it should stabilize her condition current condition and-
"No," A voice within him said and hearing it had Welt resist the urge to groan.
The power of the 1st Herrscher, specifically the core, had a very special feature that he was sure was only unique to it. Inside the core comprised the personality fragments of over 300,000 individuals. There were so many theories that he, Einstein, and Tesla had come up with regarding their existence.
Perhaps they were just a unique facet of the power of the Herrscher of Reason, much like how the Herrscher of Domination functioned like a hive mind. Or perhaps the personality fragments were from the souls that had perished in the 1st Herrscher's Eruption in Berlin.
Whatever the reason for their origin was to summarize what their existence was, they were the conscious of the 1st Herrscher. They normally remained quiet but when a problem that had no solution would present itself to him they would debate amongst themselves to try and find an answer.
But he did not think that such division between them would come from trying to help out a friend.
"The girl has potential." One voice argued.
"The girl is flawed." Another retorted.
"She is courageous to sacrifice herself."
"No, she is desperate for power she never had."
"She has all the makings of a worthy heir."
"She is no saint."
With each argument brought up they seemed to be no closer to coming to a clear, united answer. Having to listen to 300,000 voices argue amongst themselves was a very quick way to develop a migraine, and if you combined that with the pain that he had sustained from the battle the Sovereign's head was currently pounding.
He knew each second they debated on a choice was a second more that Bronya suffered under the strain of the Star of Eden. Gathering his strength Welt Yang was ready to subdue the voices with brute force.
However, someone else beat him to the punch.
"Enough." A familiar voice said, immediately dispelling the arguing voices. Through his connection to the core the undercover professor could feel the varying degrees of shock that the personality fragments were feeling at the sudden interruption.
And he was no different as his brown eyes were wide in disbelief.
For the voice who had brought calm to the arguments was none other than the Welt Joyce…
The original Herrscher of Reason.
Hearing the one whose power he had inherited left Welt Yang in absolute shock. There was always the possibility that of the 300,000 personality fragments inside the Herrscher core one of them must've been the original Herrscher.
Yet despite Einstein's and Tesla's best efforts they hadn't been able to locate him. They theorized that the core could only house a single dominant will, and since he was the current Herrscher of Reason, Welt Joyce's will would've been erased as a result.
But it hadn't discouraged the hope that his mentor was somehow still alive in the core.
The implications of the original Herrscher of Reason interrupting their deliberation on what to do in regards with Bronya should've gotten more of his attention but he was still shell shocked by Welt Joyce's sudden appearance.
And he knew his mind wasn't playing tricks on him, he would recognize that voice anywhere.
"Let her prove herself first."
And with that the voice of the original Herrscher of Reason faded away to the deepest depths of the Core of Reason.
The other personalities were silent, the Herrscher of Reason's ultimatum forcing their cooperation. Before Welt Yang could do anything he felt the power of the Herrscher of Reason surge within him.
They would follow his words and give Bronya Zaychik a chance.
The brown haired man closed his eyes and raised his hand up, palm open and facing Bronya. The gray haired girl wasn't faring well, her body being pushed to its limits from both the strain of the Star of Eden and trying to block his clone's attack.
And judging by the way that her feet were slowly being dug into the ground she was losing.
He felt the transfer of his power go over to the petite gray haired girl and immediately take effect. The honkai corruption defiling her body dispelled, restoring it back to their previous condition.
The Star of Eden reacted immediately, recognizing the familiar energy of the 1st Herrscher. It glowed bright red before a new surge of energy began to be dispelled by the Divine Key, joining the Valkyrie in training's attack and beginning to overwhelm the clone.
"What no!" The black haired teenager yelled in defiance as he tried to push more energy into his attack to match Bronya's surge of power. "I will not be denied my destiny!"
But try as he might, a borrowed power could never hope to match the original.
The combined energy of the Star of Eden and the 1st Herrscher quickly overwhelmed the teenager, even with the power his transformation had gifted him. His clone only managed to get out a hoarse scream before he was consumed by the Star of Eden and was vaporized completely by it.
When the black haired clone had departed from the world, leaving only a scorch mark on the ground as his final remains, Joachim stopped the transfer of his power to Bronya. The effect was immediate as the Star of Eden immediately fell from the petite gray haired girl's limp hands, clattering to the floor with a thud.
But he had more worrying things on his mind as his body swiftly moved to catch Bronya's body from hitting the floor. Luckily he was fast enough to prevent her from hitting the floor.
"Bronya?" He asked concernedly as he held the barely breathing Valkyrie's body. Had he been too late? Had the strain of the Star of Eden been too much on her body? Had all of his and her efforts been in vain?
Before he could delve on it for any further, Bronya slowly opened her eyes. They were weak and looked to be on the verge of passing out but it was a sign that she had survived their ordeal. "J-Joachim-san?" She tiredly asked as struggled to stay awake. "W-What happ-"
"Rest now Bronya," He interrupted her with a reassuring smile. "You've done well."
She opened her mouth, possibly to make some sort of retort, but instead she merely closed her mouth and nodded. With a small smile on her face Bronya closed her eyes, allowing the realm of sleep to claim her quickly.
And as she slumbered in the ruins of the first reactor control room the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy began to focus on what he had to do next, like how to explain how he had even gotten in this situation in the first place.
He was so focused in fact that he completely missed the words uttered as one by the voices within the core of the Herrscher of Reason.
"Worthy."
When she had been allowed to take control the Herrscher of Thunder had expected to be fighting against a renowned fighter. The hatred and anger that spilled forth from her host was exquisite, so exquisite that the entity felt as if she was floating on nirvana right now.
She would oblige the girl's request, quite happily in fact, to kill the one who had caused all of this anguish to her.
But yet…
"Is this all you have to offer me?" She deadpanned as she swung her electric katana at the hooded mercenary. "I am sorely disappointed if that is the case."
The Herrscher of Thunder believed that this 'Raven' was supposed to be the World Serpent's most fearsome mercenary, someone that was sent to deal with the most problematic missions. Surely an organization dedicated to the so-called eradication of the Honkai would have its members able to give her a good fight.
Yet the hooded mercenary had yet to go on the offensive, stuck on the defensive as she avoided every swing of her katana. The Herrscher would've given her praise for dodging her attacks this far but refrained from doing so as the smoldering hate that Mei Raiden had at the moment squashed any praise that might have left her lips.
And there was also the fact that she was fairly disappointed by this fight.
Case in point Raven had been so focused on dodging her blade's attacks that she had been woefully unprepared for the leg sweep the Herrscher possessed Valkyrie had performed, knocking off her feet and landing roughly on her rear.
The mercenary hissed in pain but quickly pushed it down as she swiftly tried to get back on her feet.
Only to stop midway when a crackling katana of lightning rested mere inches away from her neck.
"So it seems that's it for me," Raven calmly spoke, as if she was completely unbothered by the fact that she was mere moments away from death. Perhaps she was a mercenary that the idea of death had lost its terror on her, after all it was in her job's description.
Or maybe it was because the Herrscher of Thunder had her at her mercy, and there was no other judgment that she would deliver but death.
"Go on then kill me," Taunted the mercenary with a smirk as her hood gave way to reveal her gray hair. "It's perfectly in your right to."
"We killed Haruto so it's only natural that you'd repay the debt." She continued, not even wincing when her words got the Herrscher of Thunder to move her katana closer and grazed the skin of her neck.
It was perfectly within her rights to take her head off, she was the victor after all. She was the Herrscher of Thunder, the skies bowed to her will and her will alone. She could shake this world to its very core with a mere swipe of her hand.
She was the harbinger of destruction that cared not for the lives of humans.
And yet…
Why could she not bring herself to complete the deed?
The answer was simple as she threw a side glance at the barely breathing form of Kiana. The Herrscher had tried her best in stopping the flow of blood that was coming out of the wound on her shoulder but the loss of so much blood had left her weak and in need of dire medical help.
If she swung her blade and completed the deed would Kiana look at her like if she was a monster? Would her oath of protecting her be rescinded? Would Haruto think that she was some sort of cold blooded killer? Would he be reminded of the time where she had almost killed him?
Why did she care what they thought about her?
Why was she allowing them to make her grow soft.
.
.
.
Why had she allowed herself to become soft?
"No," She spoke as she dispelled her blade from existence. The Herrscher of Thunder barely paid any attention to the shocked expression on the mercenary's face as she turned around and swiftly made her way to the prone form of Kiana Kaslana. With a gentleness that she didn't think she possessed, the harbinger of destruction gently placed her arms behind Kiana and slightly lifted her up.
The action roused the whit haired girl from whatever sleep-like she had been in. "M-Mei-senpai?" She wearily called out, her blue eyes unfocused as she tried to look at her. It was clear that her vision was currently impaired as she was very sure that one clear look at her would show that she was not the dark purple haired girl that she loved so much.
But the Herrscher did not care about any of that as she spoke calmly to the girl in her arms. "Rest Kiana," She firmly, yet at the same time softly, commanded.
Yet Kiana would not do so willingly as she tried to stand back up, the only thing stopping her was the Herrscher of Thunder's strength and her own lack of it. "I-I can't," She groaned as her hands tightened into fists. "What kind of knight would I be if I couldn't protect the princess from the evil mercenary?"
The harbinger of destruction resisted the urge to sigh at how foolish the Kaslana was acting. The only threat that could even hope to harm them had already been taken out and was in no position to try again.
Turning her head around electric purple eyes saw that Raven was no longer at the spot where she had been beaten, the only evidence that she had even been in the room were the broken remains of her bow that had been destroyed earlier in the fight and the numerous arrows littering the room.
It was a smart decision to flee. Not only was the mercenary fighting against an opponent out of her league, but she had been exhausted from her battle with Kiana and her host.
Staying would've tested the limits on her newfound sense of mercy.
"Idiot. Who's to say that the princess must always remain the damsel in distress" She retorted as she turned back to face Kiana, her vision beginning to darken. So it seems that her host had decided that her time was up. Normal people would balk at the idea of trying to wrestle control from a harbinger of destruction but the ex-heiress had gotten more confident in herself with each passing day.
Before she allowed Mei Raiden to gain control of her own body once more the Herrscher of Thunder smirked.
Atta girl.
The moment that Fu Hua's fist connected with the tip of the bastardized Abyss Flower a bright flash of light consumed both her and the Herrscher of Sentience.
For an entire second her entire world had been enveloped in light.
And in the next it was gone.
A sudden push of force sent the A-Rank Valkyrie sprawling to the floor, her fist burning with excruciating pain. If she had been a normal warrior then she would've been screaming in pain but Fu Hua had been through enough battles to the point where she could push her pain down.
That didn't mean that she didn't feel it, oh most certainly she could feel the pain right now.
"Old timer!" Hua's concerned voice shouted in her mind. "Are you alright?!"
"I'm fine," She responded back as she picked herself off the floor, her face wincing as she moved her injured hand. Looking down the valkyrie saw that the gauntlet had taken most of the damage, with it now being a piece of blackened steel. Yet her fist was still under immense pain, it would most definitely have to be treated after the fight.
But she had other things to worry about at the moment. Pushing the pain down Fu Hua turned to face her opponent, who was also picking themself off the floor as well.
"Dammit, dammit," The Herrscher of Sentience repeated over and over again as she shakily stood up, swaying drunkenly from side to side as she clutched a hand to her face in seeming pain. "This wasn't how it was supposed to turn out."
"So you reveal your true colors at last…" The normally calm and collected Valkyrie condemned as black smoke began to expel from the Herrscher's body. Underneath the black vapor revealed that the Herrscher's appearance was beginning to change. Pink hair gave way to ash gray hair, the attire that she was wearing became gray and red in color.
The overall appearance was still of Elysia, but the change in colors had solidified that she was not fighting her friend. Rather what she was fighting was a-
"An abomination,"
"YOU!" Through the cracks of her hand the Herrrscher of Sentience glared banefully at the Valkyrie with her now red eyes, Elysia's blue and pink eyes nowhere to be found in the baneful red. The smoke around the Herrscher began to dissipate as the now transformed Elysia regained her footing. "If it wasn't for you everything would be perfect. If it wasn't for your stain in this world I would not be stuck in this disgusting body! IF IT WASN'T FOR YOUR MEANINGLESS REBELLION I WOULD NO BE HUMILIATED!"
Opening her palm another Abyss Flower materialized into her grip and she pointed her spear at the A-Rank Valkyrie venomously and began to approach Fu Hua. "And now I will-!"
Before the Herrscher of Sentience could say anything else or take another step forward she suddenly stopped in her tracks, her red eyes wide open in surprise.
The sudden switch of hostility to surprise from the unhinged Herrscher had Fu Hua on guard but even she was unprepared when a sharp pain began to emanate from her head, so strong in fact that she could not resist the urge to cradle her head with her hands.
"A mental attack?!" She thought alarmingly as the pain in her head increased.
"No its not!" Hua shouted, her voice also strained as she was no doubt feeling the same pulsating pain as she was. "It's-!"
And just as fast as it had come the mysterious pain disappeared, leaving Fu Hua and Hua utterly confused at what had just happened.
Yet while they were confused, their adversary was not. "Ofcourseofcourseofcourse," The Herrscher of Sentience muttered to herself over and over again, any traces of her further anger nowhere to be seen as an expression of realization was now on her face. "That's why I am failing, it's not the right time."
The Herrscher had learned something from that?! "What are you-" The bluish gray haired Valkyrie took a step forward, only for her vision to suddenly pulsate. The sudden disorientation had her falling on one of her knees.
The Herrscher of Sentience looked at her, no doubt thinking that this would be the perfect opportunity to finish her off. She needed to get up and-!
She mentally stopped in her tracks when the Herrscher swiftly turned on her heel, making her way towards the exit of the central reactor's control room. "Till next time, imposter!" The now gray haired woman turned her head and exclaimed with a smile. "The next we meet will be when I claim what is rightfully mine!"
And before anything else could be said the Herrscher of Sentience walked out of the control room and out of sight.
"No!" Fu Hua groaned as she forced herself to take a step forward, uncaring that her vision was rapidly growing black. "I can't let you escape!"
"Old timer don't!" Hua shouted concernedly. "You can't push your body like this!"
But Fu Hua couldn't stop, not when she was responsible for the Herrscher of Sentience. If it wasn't for her then the Herrscher wouldn't be alive right now, all the lives that she took would still be alive. She needed to do this.
To rectify this sin she had made.
Yet taking another step forward was all her body could take before she began to fall to the ground. The only thing that Fu Hua could hear was Hua's alarmed shouting before everything went black.
Angry
Embarrassed
Furious
Humiliated.
Those were but a few of the many emotions that the Herrscher of Sentience was feeling at the moment. Everything was perfectly set up for her. The invasion that she planted the seeds of in Cocolia's mind, sabotaging the defenses of St. Freya, getting that blasted imposter alone. The night should have ended with her reclaiming her rightful spot as a god!
But alas tonight had proved not all things in life were meant to go your way.
She should've been furious at the moment, and she most certainly was. Losing to your inferior was utterly humiliating and being forced to retreat with her tail tucked between her legs was even more so. The gray haired woman wanted nothing more to destroy everything around her to slightly satiate her fury.
Yet she was calm and collected…
Because she knew…
Back at the control room…
What she had seen there…
A smirk grew on her lips as she recalled what she had seen. It had only been for a split second, maybe even less than that, but she knew what she had seen.
Yes she needed to be patient a little bit longer, just a bit more until she could reclaim what rightfully belonged to her.
Yes patience…
.
.
.
But for now…
"Worry not," She grinned as she held the struggling man in her grip up into the air, gleefully watching his pathetic attempts to escape her hold.
All around her were the dead corpses of the man's, and formally once her's, comrades. After leaving the main reactor's control room she had made her way to a rendezvous site for any World Serpent members that had managed to escape capture.
Unfortunately for them she was not here to escape with them, rather she was here for some much needed information.
The man in her grasp was quite a festy one. He had been forced to retreat after some teenager had managed to defeat his entire squad that he was commanding to defend a reactor. Honestly, how hard could it be to kill one simple, defenseless, teenager?
Couldn't be that hard now could it?
But that was irrelevant as the man had been the oldest member of the World Serpent of the soldiers present so she had spared him.
"Now we can do this easy way or the hard way." She spoke as she tightened her hold on the man, making it clear that she was the one in control. "If you give me what I need to know then you'll be fine. If not…"
She threw a glance to the man's dead comrades to know what would happen to him.
The man followed her gaze and slowly nodded, prompting her to smile.
"Good! I'm glad that we understand each other!" Without warning she brought the man's head closer to her, making sure that he was eye level with her eyes.
"Tell me…" She started before her red eyes began to glow.
"Tell me all you know of the Elysian Realm."
And while all of this was going on a conversation would finish wrapping up in the St. Freya's fourth sub reactor control room.
"Think of my words Haruto," Kevin Kaslana spoke as he stood up from his seat, giving one last look at the red haired teenager in front of him. "A good day to you."
And without saying anything else the leader of the World Serpent walked out of the control room, his subordinate right behind him. They did not need to worry about the knight in training following them, not after they had given him so much to think about.
Whether or not he would heed his words, only time would tell.
It was silent as the two walked to their destination, the masked hacker dutifully quiet as he allowed his master to think uninterrupted. It was only when they had left the premise of St. Freya and into its forestry surroundings did the hacker speak up.
"So was this mission a success Sire?"
"Indeed I have what I came here for," The original Kaslana responded as he thought back to the conversation that he had with Haruto Nakamura. The red haired teenager had surprisingly made an impact on the ageless warrior. The commitment to fight, the willingness to lay down his life for his comrades, the drive to see the light of tomorrow.
It was almost like looking at a mirror of his younger self. If he kept growing then the Nakamura would prove to be an invaluable asset in the World Serpent.
But only time would tell what side the knight would choose.
"Owl," He said as he walked into a clearing, where his Communication Officer was currently overseeing their entire operation. Beside him was Jackal, who was currently tending to the injuries of a cream colored cat. "Report."
"Our forces have either been killed, captured, or retreating." The gray haired officer said as he moved his attention from the many screens he had up and greeted his lord. On each screen the Kaslana could see the retreating forms of their forces as St. Freya pushed them back. "Raven is currently making her way here and the Sovereign clone has been killed."
"A shame," Kevin softly lamented, though it did not show on his stoic face. "I had hoped that enough progress would be made with Project Prometheus in order to start making progress on Project Stigma but setbacks were inevitable."
"Indeed, the serum is still volatile and rejects most hosts." Jackal spoke up as she finished applying a bandage on the cat, who hissed at how tight it was. "However with the Sovereign's clone offering to be a test subject and withstanding the backlash of the serum's effects it shouldn't take long for me to fix the flaws."
"However there remains the problem of stabilizing the formula enough so that an ordinary person can withstand the serum." It was easy enough to hear the frustration of the scientist regarding their endgame. Even with her intellect and all the resources that the World Serpent had at its disposal she could barely begin to make progress on the scientific pinnacle that was the Previous Era's Stigmas.
"Perhaps we are looking at the wrong solution." A soft voice interrupted, prompting everyone to turn their attention as a familiar face walked into the clearing.
The woman was beautiful, even Kevin could see that. Her pale hair that draped across her back, the tips of them in a faded dark blue hue. Her light periwinkle eyes that conveyed a sense of peace in them, a feeling further added by the serene atmosphere that she seemed to exude.
World Serpent Officer Hare.
"Perhaps we should focus our efforts elsewhere." The World Serpent Officer spoke.
"Hare," Kevin greeted his subordinate. "Have you found what you are looking for?"
Many would assume that Hare wasn't a dangerous individual, that her serene disposition made her be the less threatening person and that violence was something she wouldn't be able to commit. But he knew that aside from himself…
Hare was the second strongest member of the World Serpent.
"The Herrscher of Sentience's power is promising for what we are trying to achieve. However in such a fragmented state it is impossible to discern if it is the solution we require in completing our goals." She explained to him.
"And the Herrscher of Sentience herself?"
"Gone I am afraid," Owl informed. "She evaded our trackers completely a few minutes ago, a field of our fallen comrades left in her wake."
When he had learned that the Herrscher of Sentience had plans to participate in the invasion of St. Freya he had originally planned to kill it. There could be no possible advantages in letting a Herrscher roam free and he would not make that mistake.
Not when he had made that same mistake all that long ago and it had cost him everything.
But it had been Hare that convinced him to stay his hand. She stated that the powers of Sentience could be beneficial to their cause.
More specifically Project Stigma.
"If the succession of who inherits the powers of Sentience was resolved would you be able to confirm it or not?" He asked, wondering if her hunch was right.
"It may, it may not, but forcing it to happen can have unforeseen consequences." She cryptically explained, the look in her eyes not changing a bit.
"And what of Haruto Nakamura?"
At the mention of the red haired teenager something changed in her facial expression. A small smile graced her features, a rarity in itself from the usually stoic officer. "Ah the void."
That prompted a raised brow from the Leader of The World Serpent. "The void?"
"Yes, a void in this world." She explained as she looked up to the moon, her periwinkle eyes twinkling. "It is strange. When I gaze upon him I am unable to see much. Where I would see clarity I see chaos, a fractured tapestry that I am unable to glimpse the full picture of."
That was not what he had been expecting from the pale haired woman. "So the mystery deepens."
"Yes." Hare nodded as she fell into contemplative silence, completely unresponsive as her fellow comrades began to prepare for their departure.
It was such a strange phenomenon she had experienced, looking into a void when she would otherwise see an image. Like looking at a painting but no matter how hard you tried not a single emotion would be provoked. Case in point, no matter how hard she tried she could not make heads or tails of the existence that was known as Haruto Nakamura.
It was like he wasn't supposed to exist in this universe.
Yet despite the confusion that came with the Nakamura, she could not stop her smile increasing as her mind drifted to the image she saw within the red haired teenager for a mere split second before it faded away. So fleeting in fact that she feared that she would have forgotten about it.
But yet she couldn't forget what she saw…
A golden sword embedded in a stone.
She didn't know what that sword was meant to signify, or how it related to Haruto Nakamura.
Yet she could not but feel excited at the prospect of having a challenge that stumped her be presented to her.
"Ah," She thought blissfully as she joined her comrades in leaving St. Freya, a rare smile on her face.
"What a wonderful puzzle you are, Haruto Nakamura."
So its certainly been awhile huh? Definitely did not expect this chapter to be this delayed but college, specifically finals weeks, had me shelf this for awhile and focus on it. Did relatively well, failed one class but that was because the teacher absolutely sucked so it doesn't sting that bad.
Well it kind of did but I channeled that energy and wrote this chapter out lol.
There was another reason why this chapter was delayed and that was I wanted to play through the new story chapter in Honkai. Its the final chapter of the main story, I wanted to make sure I wasn't about to contradict some sort of major plot and wanted to kind of get a feel for what the endgame was going to be like.
So this chapter essentially wraps up the invasion arc. Shorter than usual but I think that as a final chapter it does its job. What did you all think about the chapter? Let me know your guys' thoughts on it all.
I'm on Winter Break now so updates will be faster now…
And Christmas is right around the corner…
Welp that's all for this chapter. If you enjoyed it, drop a fav/follow/kudos as they really help me out with creating great chapters. Reviews are deeply appreciated, they're the biggest motivation to keep writing, and if you have a question or a really interesting theory I am more than happy to reply. Please be patient if I don't respond to you super fast. Even if I don't respond to your comment for whatever reason, know that I read each and every one of them! PMing me is the best way for me to respond to your questions.
Peace!