Chapter 1: Moon's Finality
Beep Beep Beep
The beeping sound of a machine can be heard in the distance. As the Herrscher of Finality slowly opens her eyes. The Herrscher saw that she was standing in a rather unfamiliar place. A hospital room of some kind.
"This dream again." Kiana Kaslana aka the Herrscher of Finality sighs. It has been 10 years since she became the avatar of the Cocoon. Recently, since the event of A Post Honkai Odyssey, she had been receiving strange dreams.
Dreams are supposed to reflect one's subconscious or are created from past experiences. Yet these dreams she had were different. Maybe it is her imagination but It felt too real to just be a figment of her imagination. Besides Kiana would've most likely dreamed about food considering how much of a foodie the Kaslana is.
Kiana saw her younger self sitting on a stool near the bed where the patient lay. There is also Mei standing right behind her other selfoverlooking the patient with the same worried expression. The two of them wore a different outfit than what Kiana used to see. Kiana wonders if her Mei ever had those clothes in her wardrobe because Kiana knew that she never had a blue jacket before.
Mei had a leather black jacket on with a white shirt underneath, she also wore a short black skirt. Mei also tied up her hair with a blue ribbon into a ponytail. She also looks younger compared to the Mei she's familiar with.
Her other self also looks pretty young. Kiana guessed that these two were still in their teenage years. But the patient they're looking after is what intrigues her. This girl had appeared multiple times in her previous dreams and she seems to be taking Bronya's spot in the little friend group they had.
Her other self still knew Bronya it's just she didn't seem to be as close to her compared to this other girl named Houraiji Kyuushou, the eccentric self-proclaimed savior of the world, She kind of reminded her of her younger self back when she was still a new student in St. Freya.
Though no matter how much Kiana racked her brain she never heard of a girl named Houraiji Kyuushou nor did she find any records of her family in the Schicksal database. Houraiji Kyuushou and her lineage simply didn't exist in her world.
Kiana wonders why she has been seeing these kinds of dreams as of late. Is this the side effect of being a Herrscher of Finality? If that's the case why did she only get them 8 years after becoming the Herrscher of Finality? There are so many unanswered questions and frankly, none of her friends could give her any solid answer or explanation on why this experience occurred.
Theresa asked some doctors to examine her and they found nothing unusual with her body. Misteln and Senti also did their checkups on her but there was nothing wrong with her psyche either. So where did this scene come from and what is it trying to tell her?
It feels like she's just seeing her other self's life from a 3rd person perspective. Kiana could try to roam around but there are invisible barriers are keeping her from exploring too far from her other self. All she could do was observe.
Kiana tried exploring the dream world version of Nagazora but she couldn't get very far. She saw how the 3rd eruption occurred in this dream world and how her other self and this new girl Kyuushou managed to save Mei.
They would later meet Bronya and Seele though it isn't a friendly encounter as their allegiances differ.
Kiana saw a world where her mother survived the 2nd eruption and became the principal of St. Freya High where her other self is already attending. But unfortunately, Siegfried died in the 2nd eruption instead. Unlike her past self, she is more serious even if both of them still like to slack off at times.
Those three would later share a closer bond as Kiana watched them train under principal Cecilia. Everything was going well. That was until Cecilia told them the truth about this world's past era and how the Herrscher of the end destroyed it.
Cecilia wanted her daughter to inherit that destructive power once again as she foresaw a much bigger threat looming over the horizon. The risk was high and Cecilia knew that. Together with Walter, The Herrscher of Logic or AE's sovereign, the two concocted a plan and tried to recreate what PE had failed to accomplish.
She had somewhat succeeded as Kiana had been put inside of the machine though two of her friends naturally protested against this idea and so they fought her to try and get their friend out of there.
Mei and Kyuushou of course can't defeat the legendary S-rank Valkyrie if they fight her head-on but they don't need to, all they need to do is stop the machine that would merge Sirin's Herrscher core with Kiana.
The two girls succeed in doing so however, the Herrscher of the void core starts to destabilize due to the forceful shutdown of the machine. It started to look for a host to stabilize itself and so Kyuushou took the core in order to prevent it from merging with Kiana and made her into the Herrscher of the End.
Though Kyuushou's body wasn't viable enough to host the unstable Herrscher core due to her unique circumstances of having multiple stigmata within her body. It left her in an unconscious state as the Stigmata within her and the Herrscher core's influence started to clash with each other.
A lot of things happened since then and AE and Schicksal got into another war.
Cecilia was branded as a traitor due to her collaboration with Walter, the AE sovereign. Kiana and her other self had to see their mother die in front of their eyes as she sacrificed herself so that the other Valkyries of St. Freya who were loyal to her could escape from the destruction of their HQ and home.
For a 2nd time Kiana, the Herrscher of Finality saw the destruction of St. Freya high. But this time it wasn't the Honkai that destroyed it. No, this was done by the humans themselves.
Kiana sighed as she recalled the unpleasant memories from her past dreams.
Then, to everyone's surprise, the Houraiji slowly opens her eyes after a couple of months of being left in a comatose state. Their friend had finally woken up from her long slumber.
Tears of joy started to fall from Mei's eyes. Meanwhile, her other self's face started to light up. It is as if a weight has been lifted off their chest.
"...You all… I'm back." The Houraiji smiled. It was a heartwarming scene as the three girls got into a group hug. "Kyuushou I…. Thank you. I was going to say that when I saw the state you were in, in that dream state. You were at your lowest and all we could do was watch. I-"
"Don't be. It's neither of our fault. Things just happened sometimes." Kyuushou smiled.
"...It's not like you to be so mature." The Kaslana chuckles.
"Hmph, even the Savior can grow into a better person." Kyuushou chuckles. And there it is, the old Chuuni that they both know and love. Her other self groaned when she heard that. "I don't know who but when I was there. I felt a push from someone… They gave me the strength to push on one last time."
Mei and her other self looked at each other confused about who's she talking about. "Is it Dr. Yssring?" Mei asked but Kyuushou shook her head.
"No, it doesn't sound like her, and I did meet her a while back when I was in that dream space. But anyway, that doesn't matter now." The Houraiji then cast her gaze onto the other person in the room.
Kiana was undoubtedly confused 'Is she looking at me?' The Herrsher of Finality points at herself to confirm her suspicion. She didn't hear or see anyone enter the room and behind her was just an uninteresting plain wall. This had never happened before.
"Mhm, I was talking about you. Nice to meet you, Kiana Sama. Maybe that's too polite. Ahem. " Kiana's judgment was right. Kyuushou did notice her presence. Time seems to have stopped moving as the self-proclaimed savior got out of her bed and stood in front of the Herrscher.
"..." Kiana stood there. She didn't know what to say. Many questions were swirling in her mind at this moment and she didn't know which one she wanted to ask first.
"If you're thinking about that then no. You're not the voice I'm talking about." Kyuushou replied before Kiana could ask that question. "You're probably wondering why are you seeing lord Kyuushou's story." The scene changes into a more familiar-looking environment. St. Freya high.
"Would you mind going for a walk with me while I explain things?" Kyuushou also changed. She looks older now and more mature. She wore a military-style commander outfit with a sword on her hip. Kiana nods accepting the Savior's invitation.
"I know you haven't seen our entire story but you have seen it right? The destruction that the Herrscher of The End or in your world terms The Herrscher of Finality caused?" Kiana nods in response. She knew exactly what Kyuushou was talking about. Truthfully that dream was still ingrained in her memory. No matter what she did she couldn't forget about that faithful day.
Kiana remembers vividly what she saw that day. The mark of the end appeared in the sky as she saw her other self being forced to exterminate everyone on Earth. It reminded her of when she had lost control of her power as her HoV persona took over but in this world, the residents of Earth weren't as fortunate.
No one could stop the Herrscher of The End. Her friends tried and they were all slain by her one by one. All Kiana does is watch, no matter how hard she tries to do anything, she can't intervene in the events that are happening in the dream.
"I'm sorry that you have to see that. But through this dream I want you to know that we never falter, We never lose hope. In the end, we managed to drive out the Ruler of Will but it came with a high price…" Kyuushou stops momentarily to look up at the clear blue sky above them.
"Our Kiana and Mei never returned after those two drove the Will back to their original world. Seele and Sin lost their lives in that final battle. The others like Bronya sustained a permanent injury. I was quite lucky since I am a Herrscher, so no injuries were permanent."
"We're getting a bit off topic." Kyuushou coughs a bit. "The reason why you've been having these dreams is that. We're trying to warn you about a potential threat."
"A threat?" Kiana looks confused. "Another alien invasion? If the Sky People ever try that again. We'll teach them a lesson they'll never forget!"
Kyuushou chuckles at her enthusiasm. "No, unfortunately, it is a different threat. I'm talking about the Honkai. More specifically the Ruler of Will."
"Huh? Didn't you say you drove it back to their original world?"
"Yes, but we didn't permanently get rid of it. We thought it was over too until we saw signs of their eventual counterattack."
"But why are you warning me? Also, couldn't you say that sooner rather than send me dreams for 3 years?" Kiana huffed. Kyuushou chuckled in response.
"I'm sorry about that. We have tried to do a more direct approach but only the dream method works and the fact that I could even directly converse with you is even more concerning."
"Why? Is your world going to crash into ours?"
"Ehh, Something like that. It's complicated stuff, I don't even understand what those young scientists are saying either so please don't ask me for any further details about how our world will merge. Kyuushou sama isn't some brilliant scientist." It seems like the situation is quite serious. Kiana could see that in Kyuushou's eyes, the woman had been saying nothing but the truth.
"Alright." Kiana sighs. It is difficult for her to wrap her head around this situation too. Maybe Tesla or Einstein can do better. "But why didn't we detect anything?"
"You won't be able to detect it unless you're specifically looking for that problem. Also, the Will is coming and I don't know specifically when it will invade your world. Kiana don't underestimate the power that the Ruler of Will possesses. Even with the help of the Herrscher of Finality in our world, it wasn't enough to fully drive them back."
"... I'll try to remember that." For the first time in years, she felt chills running down her spine. The cocoon that has been laying dormant this entire time has been a bit restless too in the past few weeks. Perhaps this is the case. "I'm going to tell Auntie about this after I woke up." The Herrscher sighs at the amount of information she has to process.
"And it seems like we're running out of time." Kyuushou smiled as the sky behind them began to crack indicating that the dream was ending. "It's nice to talk to an old friend again even if you're not the same person that I personally knew. Also, can I ask you a question?"
"Yes. What do you want to know?" Kiana tilts her head.
"Nothing personal. But do you know me? Hold on, maybe I should have rephrased that question better. What I'm trying to say is have you met a version of me in your world?" Kyuushou asked. The savior merely wants to satiate her curiosity though some part of her wishes that it is true. Unfortunately, Kiana shakes her head. Telling her that, a version of her didn't exist in Kiana's world.
"I see… That's a shame." With a sad smile, the Savior slowly vanished out of existence as the dream space slowly started to crumble.
Beep Beep Beep
Beep Beep Beep
Beep Beep Beep
Beep Beep Beep
The familiar sound of her phone's alarm woke the slumbering Herrscher up. "I get it I get I'm awake." Kiana groaned and got up from her bed to turn off her annoying alarm. It may be loud and annoying to listen but at least that annoying alarm got its job done.
Kiana blankly stares at her phone, looking at the current date and time. It is currently 6:00 a.m., Sunday, 17 December 2029, 10 years after that faithful battle ended. Kiana wonders if Kevin ever had that dream.
"...Will Auntie think that I'm delusional if I tell her all of that?" Kiana began to wonder if she was going insane. A threat from another world, all of this stuff is giving her a headache. Maybe she should forget about it and go on with her day. But then again what if it came to fruition? Her ignorance would cause a lot of innocent lives.
"Kiana! Breakfast is ready!" A voice broke her out of her train of thought and that voice was none other than Mei herself.
"Ah. Mei, I'm coming!" Kiana replied. Right, how could she forget about her friends visiting her? They had a sleepover yesterday and Bronya is probably still in deep sleep in the other room. Somehow she always had work that needed to be done even when she was on her vacation. Seems like being the CEO of a big company is more stressful than Kiana had anticipated.
Kiana slowly made her way into the dining room where she was greeted by a beautiful woman with long violet hair and eyes. That woman is her best friend, Raiden Mei, and the Herrscher of Thunder. "Morning Mei."
"Good morning Kiana Chan. Is Bronya still asleep?"
"Yeah, I checked. She passed out cold in her room."
"I see… Seems like her work always caught up to her." Mei giggled as she took a seat at the dining table. Mei seems to have finished setting up the table as well. Kiana felt pretty bad letting her friend do all the work even though she was supposed to be the host.
"Mei, you should've let me help. How will I be a good host at this rate?" Kiana puffed her cheeks and she took a seat.
"Didn't you say I should make myself at home?"
"Yes, but I can't have you do all the chores too."
"Fufu, Kiana Chan is growing to be a responsible woman."
"Me-Mei! I'm not a kid anymore you know. Be-besides I'm legally an adult now." Kiana let out a sigh "Hai. Hai. "Mei giggled.
"Something on your mind Kiana Chan?" Mei asked, She noticed that her friend's expression wasn't as colorful as it used to be.
"Well… It's complicated." Kiana replied.
"Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?"
"Maybe later. I need to explain this to Aunt Teri too." Kiana answered, her face was full of worry. Her friend guessed that she might've seen another nightmare again. Mei simply nodded and the two ate their breakfast in silence.
After eating their breakfast and cleaning up the plates. Kiana opened up the video call. It didn't take long before a hologram of Theresa, Tesla, and Einstein appeared in front of the two Herrschers.
"Hi, Auntie." Kiana waved at her aunt.
"Hi, Kiana. How have you been?" Theresa waved back and asked.
"I'm fine."
"That's good to hear, so what do you want to tell us? Did your dream get worse?" A hint of worry is seen on the petite overseer's face. After all, this is her Niece they're talking about.
"It's complicated…" Kiana sighed and closed her eyes. She told them about the things that happened in her recent dreams. Word for word she told them everything that Kyuushou had said as well.
"Ha? How can we be sure about that?" Tesla asked in disbelief, she was very skeptical of that information. Someone could probably be messing with Kiana for all they know. However, Einstein had a different opinion on the matter.
"Wait, Tesla. What Kiana San said might not be too far-fetched. I'll be right back. "The blue-haired scientist left the call. Tesla had to admit this was a bit too much for a mere prank by someone. So the possibility of what Kiana said was true isn't that far off either.
In the past week, Schicksal and Kiana herself had noticed that the cocoon was acting strangely. It seems to have gotten more active recently.
Kiana describes it as the Cocoon being restless. It is as if it sensed something they didn't detect. Though the Honkai levels on the moon and the ones that are slowly being released back to earth are normal. There isn't any sudden influx that might cause another Honkai impact.
Maybe this is the true reason why the Cocoon is being restless.
"Auntie. What do you think about all of this? Do you trust me?" Kiana looks back at her aunt.
"Of course I do but I'm not sure what to make of what you said. But it wouldn't hurt for us to be more vigilant in the meantime. Also, It seems like the distribution of new Herrscher cores is a success. Mei and Bronya seemed fine after receiving their cores back and I didn't have any issues when you made me into a Herrscher but do keep in mind that we can't randomly give them to someone, Kiana"
"Mhm. I know that Auntie. You've told me that a lot of times already. Should I give more, in the future?"
"It depends on the situation. A few more wouldn't hurt given that we might have to face a new enemy, But how many Authorities could you give out in the first place?"
"About that." Kiana scratches her head, The Herrscher of Finality herself doesn't seem to know the answer. There are many authorities within the Finality but since an Imaginary Singularity is needed for a Herrscher core to be formed later the blank core would be granted an Authority by her or the cocoon. Because of that, She couldn't test how many authorities she could give out at once.
Besides granting the core any Authority doesn't seem to diminish her strength, so maybe one day she can grant all of humanity's protectors their very own Herrscher cores. If her Auntie allows it that is.
"It's okay if you don't know Kiana."
"Ugh. Out of everything why do we have to fight another Alien? What about Welt? Can you feel his whereabouts from his Herrscher core? Or the Star of Eden?" Tesla grumbles.
"No. I'm sorry I couldn't do much, Dr. Tesla." Kiana lowered her head feeling a little guilty that she hadn't intervened sooner when the Sky People arrived on Earth. Had she intervened maybe Welt, the previous Herrscher of Reason would still be here.
Tesla sighed. "It's not your fault. Don't look at me like that. Sorry, Kiana maybe I'm just too impatient. That old man just where the hell did he even go? Can't believe he hasn't contacted me yet after all of these years." Tesla frowned a little. For 2 years she has waited for any kind of message from him. But so far their efforts of trying to reach him have been proven fruitless. The universe is simply too vast. Tesla hopes that he is safe out there and she hopes that he can find his way back soon.
"Sorry for interrupting. But it seems that we have a more serious matter at hand." Einstein soon rejoined the call. Her usually stoic and calm face was now filled with worry. "It seems that what Kiana san had said is unfortunately all true."
Everyone was shocked to hear that. Their worst fear has come true. The Honkai is back.
"Wait." Mei raises her hand "If another Honkai wave comes wouldn't Kiana Chan be able to control them?" It was an interesting question but unfortunately, the answer wasn't as simple as she had thought as the blue-haired scientist shook her head.
"Maybe. But this Honkai signature is different than the ones that the Cocoon of Finality produces. In other words, this new Honkai threat has a different higher dimensional being that controls them. So Kiana san might not be able to control them at all as it is not the Cocoon of finality's Honkai." Einstein replied. It seems like they have to scrap that idea.
Theresa let out a sigh. It seems like humanity will have to go to war once again. Just what exactly is the Honkai? A tool that higher beings used to decimate other life forms? What are their goals? Did Welt encounter them on his journey? Maybe another variant of them or is this a problem on their part of the universe? These questions unfortunately don't have any concrete answers. All they can do is speculate and hope for the best.
"Moving on, there seem to be different 2 signals. 1 is from the new Honkai and the other is from a different world. It seems like what Kiana said about our world merging with that other world might be correct or at least the space between our worlds and theirs would be more easily accessible as if they were a bubble world." Einstein explained.
"Would any problem arise if that happened?" Theresa asked. She needs to prepare for the worst-case scenario if 2 worlds do indeed merge into 1.
"There would but It wouldn't be anything major. Because the space between the two worlds is smaller. It'll be easier for them to crossover onto our world using a portal or teleportation device like the one on the moon and the Ark on Venus. The other way around is also viable. But don't worry no major changes will happen to our earth's landscape." Einstein explained.
"I see. Then if that happens I should have a word with this Houraiji Kyuushou that Kiana spoke about. I'm going to take my leave. Kiana if anything happens on the moon make sure to contact us okay?"
"Mhm, I will." Kiana nods her head. And with that, the petite overseer leaves the call as she has a lot of work to do. The two former AE scientists also left soon after leaving the two Herrschers alone. Bronya would've been shocked if she woke up and heard about this news.
Both of them are wondering whether or not they should tell her now or later. Sooner or later the Herrscher of Truth would need to know as well. They would need everyone's help. If the Herrscher of Finality can't beat the Ruler of Will alone then surely with the help of her allies she should be able to right?
After all, Kiana has gotten stronger over these past 10 years of living on the moon. She could confidently say that she could beat Deliverance Kevin in a 1 on 1 fight though it would still be a challenge even for someone like her, but she would most definitely win the fight.
But what would she do if they can't win? Should she reset the world and bet on the future whilst sacrificing herself to weaken the Ruler of Will? As the Herrscher of Finality, she is capable of doing so. Kiana shakes her head those thoughts are best left on the back of her head. She should hope that she doesn't have to resort to that.
A Week later
24 December 2029.
On the moon, the Herrscher of Finality casts her gaze on the giant blue planet. No matter how long she stared at it. It always amazes her how beautiful the Earth and the other planets look when she looks at them from the moon.
This past week has filled her with uneasiness. The Cocoon is acting up more and more. She talked with Kyuushou through her dreams 2 times now. It seems that their world has already merged as Schicksal detected some sort of spatial anomaly in Nagazora about 2 days ago.
The anomaly is a rift. Fortunately, nothing could get in or out of that rift unless they made some sort of portal device in the vicinity. Currently, they're building one so the two worlds can contact one another through that bubble space.
The Bubble space houses a campus called Houkai Gakuen. The bubble space is quite similar to a bubble world or HoD's theater of domination, as for how they managed to build such a large pocket dimension that can only be accessed from a few places. Nobody knows. It is a secret that the founder of Houkai Gakuen keeps mostly to herself.
Kiana sighs. It does get lonely and boring sometimes. Even though there is other Schicksal staff that are on the moon and are in charge of monitoring Project Finality with her. They're not the most fun individuals to talk with. Most of them are scientists so Kiana doesn't understand what they talked about most of the time.
Sometimes Valkyries in training also come to visit her. Though it was to train on the moon's condition and high Honkai ambiance environment. They also sparred with her from time to time as they wanted to test their skills against Schicksal's strongest Herrscher. They were no match for her of course but those days were fun.
Nowadays everyone is busy with preparations. Well, it is a given since a Honkai threat can't be treated lightly.
Bronya is leading the AE division while Mei, her older sister Bianka, and Seele have their own Valkyrie squad to attend to. Theresa is naturally the busiest, while her father has his mission. Fu Hua is on the Venus bubble world with Griseo, just in case Venus is also attacked.
Everyone is busy doing their own thing and of course, Kiana is tasked with guarding the moon though she wishes her aunt would send someone else to accompany her.
Though Kiana wouldn't be bored for long. The Herrscher of finality immediately gets up from her spot as she senses some kind of otherworldly danger is approaching. A rift was suddenly opened in the space above her as 2 figures fell out of it onto the moon's surface.
Kiana didn't have time to check on those 2 girls as something else emerged from that rift. This time she could feel the eerieness. The monster known as the Ruler of Will has emerged. A being purely made out of Honkai energy just like the Cocoon. Its black hands grip the border of the rift as it tries to pull itself out of the rift.
Its single giant diamond-shaped eye stares back at the Herrscher of Finality. The monstrosity roars making its presence known to everyone.
"Auntie! The Ruler of Will is here. It just arrived on the moon." Kiana immediately calls Theresa through her earpiece. "Should I engage it?"
Though unbeknownst to the Herrscher of Finality, however. Humanity's doomsday clock had just started ticking. Just like the previous era, this current era will soon meet its doom.
Welp as promised I'm going to make Re:Born Impact into a new series.
If you have read the one-shot then it is fine. The one-shot doesn't have a connection to this series so you won't be spoiled if you've read it already.