Project Bunny did the best it could to support its master. It had been many years since Bronya had experienced this level of fatigue and injury. None of her prior experiences came even close with the exception of the Nagazora Incident where she burned her brain chip and the battle against Chiyou.
Bronya nearly stumbled as she hobbled onto the downed Hyperion. She held onto the railing as she gathered her bearings, determined to head back out there to aid her teacher and her best friend's older sister in combat.
"Bronya!"
She looked up to see the Manhattan lumbering toward her. It extended its arm and gently picking Bronya off the ground. Its hull opened, revealing Wendy's worried face.
"We need to help them…," Bronya said weakly.
"...," Wendy looked toward the battle raging on outside. A searing wave of heat washed over her, followed by a chilling wave of cold. The elements raged, all clashing with the false God.
"In our condition, we'll only get in the way. I'll take you to the Bridge and return to aid in the evacuation effort. Just get some rest, Bronya," Wendy said.
With that, she turned and headed down the hallway to the Bridge with Project Bunny following close behind.
"Oi! Himeko! Kiana!"
Kiana shifted her gaze slightly, seeing Tesla out of the corner of her eye. The redhead glared fiercely at the Herrscher before them, eyes barely concealing the contempts she felt for the monster before her. She was hunched over one of the Hyperion's port-side hull. She had attached several nodes, all of which were performing their own task.
"Focus on fixing the ship and gathering the wounded with what we have left, Doctor. Himeko and I will handle on holding her off," Kiana said, brandishing her flaming blade at her sister.
The Herrscher of the Void lifted her hand.
In an instant, an array of portals opened around them, firing an omni-directional barrage of lances.
"Himeko!" Kiana yelled.
"I see them!"
The two vanished instantly from their spots. A trail of orange lines traced themselves across the air, severing the lances to harmless bits of metal.
The Herrscher of the Void narrowed her eyes. She swiped her arm to her left, creating a blue barrier of Honkai energy just as Himeko's sword was about to cut her down.
"Sorry to make you wait, sugar! This is a bit much for a temper tantrum, huh, Ceci?" Himeko taunted. She jumped into the air, using the barrier as a launchpad.
Flames coated her sword as she slashed the air, unleashing a searing swathe of flames.
The Herrscher's eyes glowed. Her entire body was encased in a blue barrier.
A blinding explosion of light and debris shook the entire area.
Kiana jumped between the debris and Tesla, slicing them apart. She swiped her arm, erecting a sturdy barrier made of ice.
Himeko landed on the ground, eyeing the thick cloud of smoke that obscured their view of the Void Herrscher.
"Did we get her?" she asked.
"I— To your left," Kiana said.
As if on cue, two portals opened and fired lances at the two.
Himeko jumped back, using her blade to deflect the projectiles.
Kiana caught one of them in her hand before using it to parry the other. She focused her senses and suddenly threw the lance at an empty point in space.
A portal opened onto the path of the lance.
The Herrscher of the Void's eyes widened as the high-speed projectile approached. She hastily crafted a barrier that shattered almost instantly. However, it gave her enough time to teleport to a different part of the battlefield.
She narrowed her eyes.
"You're several decades too early to get the drop on me, Cecilia," Kiana said.
The Herrscher of the Void laughed in amusement. Her eyes filled with mirth and malice. "Getting arrogant just because you anticipated my movements? So typical of you humans. Just so you know, you'll never get that lucky ever again."
"I wouldn't be so sure. Even if you are a Herrscher, you're still Cecilia. All your tactics, all your strategies, your movements." Kiana shifted on her heel.
It took the combination of her Kaslana and Herrscher senses to narrowly avoid the flaming blade of Shamash. A wave of flames carved a large rift across the entirety of the Labs and through its walls.
The Herrscher's eye twitched as it gazed down at the molten rift before her. She glared at Kiana before increasing the distance between them.
"Everything you know now. You know because of me," Kiana turned to face the Herrscher. She readied her blade, everything poised to cut the Herrscher before her down completely. Ice and fire surged around her. "I hope you're ready."
The Herrscher eyed her with an expressionless face as she weighed her options. In the end, Kiana was the only person she had to be wary of. However, she would eventually overpower her. A smile formed on the Herrscher's lips.
"I guess I should take this fight a bit more seriously, huh, Big Sis?" the Herrscher of the Void said.
"K-Kiana, are you sure it was a good idea to taunt her?" Himeko asked, tightening her grip around her blade.
Kiana said nothing. The amount of Honkai energy that radiated from her body suddenly surged. The ground beneath her cracked from the pressure and the constantly fluctuating temperatures.
The Herrscher of the Void ascended into the air. Blue lightning crackled around her body, causing the storm above them to rage with even greater intensity. The winds picked up as she raised her hand.
"How about we test out this little gift that Mei-senpai gave to me?" she said, spitting out Mei's name as if it were venom.
Blue, crackling light gathered within her hands and fingers before the deafening sound of thunder echoed through the whole battlefield.
In all her life, Kriemhilde never thought she'd come face to face with this beast again.
She slid underneath a stray blast of energy that nearly took her head off. With one push, she threw herself at the Honkai Beast, swinging Balmung at it.
Benares took the Divine Key head-on, intercepting it with its talons. The entire lab shook as an explosion of fire and lightning obliterated the entire South Guard Tower. Dust and debris flew everywhere as their fight raged on.
Any Honkai Beast unfortunate enough to get caught in their deathmatch were reduced to bits of charred and ionized flesh.
The dust cloud burst as Benares took to the air. Its opponent followed, launching herself after it at great speeds.
She furiously swung Balmung, clashing with Benares's extremely durable wings. A shockwave cleared the dust below them and ripped apart anything that wasn't as durable as rock.
Kriemhilde flash-froze the air beneath her, creating a platform for her to jump off of. Her sclera bled black as she landed on the ground. A black carapace began to cover her arms. Violet lines of energy etched themselves on her skin, traveling up her arm and stopping under her jaw. A single curved horn jutted from the top of her head along with a thick stocky tail extended from her back.
"Last time we fought, Ziggy and I had no control over this but now…," Kriemhilde clenched her fist and grinned. "It's time for a rematch!"
A series of explosions tore the skies asunder. Kiana landed on the ground and dug her claws into the ground to ground herself. Her eyes scanned the skies above to see Himeko and the Herrscher constantly clashing together.
A hail of lightning bolts arced from the Herrscher's fingertips.
Himeko raised her sword to block, causing the bolts to detonate violently. A red blur slammed into the ground next to her.
"Insects… grovel on your knees and perish before your God!" the Herrscher cackled. She raised her arm into the air.
An array of pitch-black portals opened behind her. A series of orange and blue lights began to glow within the yawning black maws. The Herrscher's lips upturned into a cruel smirk before throwing her hand forward.
A barrage of orange energy and blue lightning shot toward them in a seemingly endless onslaught of power.
"Himeko! Get down!" Kiana appeared on front of her. Her eyes glowed as she slammed her hand into the ground.
The ground shook and a wall of pure white ice erupted from the floor, forming a solid white dome around the two.
The energy blasts and lightning bolts collided with the dome, causing a tremendous explosion of power. A blinding white light caused the skies above to darken and powerful winds to batter the entirety of Schicksal.
Kiana felt her knees buckle under the weight of the virtually infinite attacks.
"Kiana—!"
"Get ready!" Kiana's eyes narrowed as she saw cracks beginning to form in her ice barrier. She tightened her grip around Shamash.
The cracks grew larger until the barrier completely shattered.
Shamash's blade whirred to life. Flames coiled around the blade. Kiana let out a roar and swung Shamash.
The sky lit up as an unstoppable swathe of flames consumed the oncoming tidal wave of lightning and energy.
The Herrscher's eyes widened as the all-consuming wave of fire flew toward her at breakneck speeds. She tore open the space behind her and tried to slip into the portal to avoid the blast.
However, Kiana's attack was too fast. A tremendous flash of orange light lit up the atmosphere. The thunder clouds created by the Herrscher of the Void were instantly vaporized by the absolutely massive blast. A wave of wind and heat washed over Schicksal, causing the entire floating island to shake violently. Several alarms began to go off all at once.
[Island integrity compromised…]
[Island integrity compromised…]
The light and wind died down, revealing a heavily wounded Herrscher of the Void. Her wounds were slowly healing but there was no mistaking it. Blood poured down from a large searing wound on her side.
Himeko whistled as she saw it.
Kiana lowered Shamash and eyed the Herrscher carefully.
The Herrscher of the Void let out a shaky breath. An unfamiliar sensation, one she hadn't felt in years, suddenly came crashing into her all at once. A look of fury and shock contorted her face as she pressed a finger against the slowly healing wound on her side. The fabric of her battlesuit had been completely burned away.
"—!? The battlesuit… You—!?" A violet aura began to envelop the Herrscher of the Void as she spoke. Fury and hatred coated her words like poison.
"That looks painful. You're actually bleeding. Herrschers have often been referred to as Gods but I never expected a God to bleed," Himeko taunted.
Her fury grew even more as Himeko's words registered in her mind. She balled her hands into fists, trembling with rage. Space around her began to distort. Cracks spread across the sky, revealing a gold and black abyss beneath the seams of the fabric of reality.
"...impossible…! I should've killed you two a dozen times over! How is this possible!" With each word that left her mouth, her rage grew. In response, reality began to unravel at the seams around her.
Kiana took a step forward. A taunting smirk appeared on her usually calm and stoic features. She stared at the Herrscher in a challenging manner.
"My bad, Ceci. I'm not one to gloat but… between the two of us, I've always been the more talented one, you see," Kiana said.
A slight blue aura began to form around Kiana. The thin sheet of ice began to cover the ground beneath her.
The Herrscher's eyebrow twitched. Her jaw clenched as she ground her teeth. Her yellow eyes began to glow.
"Insolent human! You dare—! I'll have your head!" the Herrscher spat.
Himeko gripped her sword and leveled it at the Herrscher. "Don't you ever get tired of calling us insects or humans? The two of us have names you know. I know I'll be sure to carve it into your memory when I send you packing down to hell!"
"Tch—! Arrogant—!?" Her senses went into overdrive as she spun around.
Himeko appeared behind her and spun, swinging her blade as she approached the Herrscher.
The Herrscher of the Void erected a barrier, protecting herself from Himeko's attack.
"You—!?"
"My name is Himeko Murata! Try to remember it when you go crying to your daddy!" Himeko said, digging her flaming sword into the Herrscher's barrier.
"Impossible! I refuse to be put down by the likes of you!" the Herrscher pushed back, forcing Himeko off her barrier.
"!?" Himeko's eyes widened when she saw the sclera of the Herrscher's left eye begin to darken. No way, is that Kiana's—?
"Die!" the Herrscher screamed as she swiped her arm. A wave of blue flames erupted from the swing of her arm. The air froze as the flames traveled, creating a cutting wave of ice.
"Himeko!" Kiana jumped toward her, shoving her out of the way. She met the Herrscher's wave of ice head-on, slicing it apart with Shamash.
Frost gathered around Kiana's other hand, coalescing into a jagged spear of ice. She hurled it at the Herrscher.
A barrier formed around the Herrscher, causing the spear of ice to bounce off harmlessly.
"Himeko… do you still have it?" Kiana asked as she landed on the ground.
"I do," Himeko said, landing next to her.
"All we have to do is hold her off for one more minute. When Doctor Tesla gives us the signal, we need to move in on her and use it," Kiana said quietly. Her gaze never left the misanthropic being that hovered above them. Her wounds were almost completely healed now.
"Kiana… remember, Doctor Tesla said that…"
"I know," Kiana replied.
"Be careful with how you use this thing. The notes said this can make an Emperor Class turn to ash within seconds. Even with this small a dose and the amount of Honkai energy she possesses, it might not work so wait for my signal. We'll weaken her to the point where the serum will have an absolute effect on her. And another thing… there is a chance that…"
"It's just a chance. She never said that it will happen if we use it on her," Kiana finally said.
Himeko nodded and refocused her gaze on the Herrscher.
"Here she comes," Himeko said, tightening her grip on the sword. "Surtr, fight with me once more." The blade ignited in response to Himeko's words.
"Shamash. Dad…," Kiana whispered. Ice and fire erupted around her. She closed her eyes and drew upon the power of the Stigmata within her. Her desire to overcome her opponent resonated with the power embedded within her genetic code.
She conjured a greatsword made of ice in her other hand. A wave of ice and fire swirled around her.
"On my mark," Kiana said.
"As if I would let you to have enough time to strategize!"
Ice, lightning, and energy swirled around the Herrscher of the Void. She snapped her fingers.
Kiana and Himeko's eyes widened as an orange sphere of distorted light formed around them. The world around them suddenly slowed down. Everything around them began to move in slow motion.
White lances appeared in the air around them. Thinking on her feet, Kiana kicked Himeko in the side, sending her out of the orange sphere where she landed with a roll.
She swung her frozen sword and Shamash simultaneously as the lances shot through the orange veil, seemingly unaffected by the slowing of time around her.
A burst of ice and fire shattered the sphere, consuming the lances in a burst of energy. Kiana burst through the smoke and rushed toward the Herrscher.
"Himeko!" Kiana called out.
Himeko darted from Kiana's left as a series of lances were fired at the pair.
Himeko's greatsword clashed with the Herrscher of the Void's lances. Fire blazed from her battlesuit, reducing the oncoming projectiles to ash. Kiana burst from the flames and spun in mid-air as she released several waves of ice and fire from her swords.
The Herrscher of the Void tightened her jaw as she gathered lightning in the palm of her hand. She thrust her arm forward, releasing a violent wave of electricity at Kiana.
"—!?" Kiana swung her blades, meeting the lightning blast head on. She cut through the lightning, flying toward the Herrscher at high speeds.
"—!? Damn you! How dare these insects think to stand against me!?" The Herrscher snarled. Several more portals materialized behind her. Lances began to poke their tips out from the portals. Lightning culminated at their tips before firing.
"Kiana! Go! I got this!" Himeko said. She swung her greatsword, unleashing a great blaze of destruction that clashed with the bolts of lightning.
"W- What!? Those flames… that gem! That's my Gem!" the Herrscher snarled. Her eyes were ablaze with fury upon laying eyes on Himeko.
Kiana continued her charge, parrying each blast that came her way. She tightened her grip on the frozen greatsword on her left hand. Its blade dragged against the ground before Kiana swung upward, sending a cascading wave of icicles toward the Herrscher.
The Herrscher's eyes widened as the gargantuan wave of frost came hurtling toward her. She gathered Honkai energy into the palm of her hand. The energy swirled violently, producing a horrendous screeching sound.
The Herrscher of the Void slammed the swirling ball of Honkai energy into the ice wave. A massive blast shook the area and kicked up a powerful blast of wind, akin to a hurricane.
Himeko shielded herself with her sword, attempting to find Kiana's figure through the buffeting blasts of wind.
"Kiana!" Himeko cried out.
Shards of ice flew in every direction and she felt one slice into her shoulder. However, the warm liquid flowing down her arm and the pain that followed were the least of her worries. As the winds battered all of Schicksal, she finally found the person she was looking for.
Kiana rushed against the wind, using the blasts from Shamash's blade to propel herself against winds that could rip a house in two.
"Impossible! As if I would let myself lose to the likes of you!" the Herrscher screamed. Honkai energy gathered around her as she called on her Authorities.
Reality was undone at the seams. Splintering cracks spread across the world as several rifts opened up. Crackling fonts of energy gathered within them as the Herrscher called upon the powers of the Void and Conquest to her aid.
"I'll rip you two to shreds with everything I've got!" the Herrscher said. Her face was a twisted grimace. Hatred had completely consumed her visage as she directed all her fury toward her prey.
However, at the moment, she failed to take notice of the pair of eyes that had been studying her every move since the battle started.
Throughout the entire battle, behind the ice barrier Kiana had erected, Tesla eyed the Herrscher carefully. "Mophead, I've taken care of the portside hull. How are things on your end?" Tesla asked.
"I have everything I need. Commencing firing sequence," Einstein responded through her commlink.
"System Control, online. Output Control, online. Trajectory Control, online. Tesla, run the checks," Einstein said.
Tesla nodded as she eyed the Herrscher of the Void. The casual splintering of reality sent shivers down her spine, yet she maintained her composure as she tapped on a projected screen above her gauntlet.
"The damage to our aiming computers will need more time than 3 minutes to fix so I need to manually aim. But… that being said. Target acquired. Commencing range corrections," Tesla said as her mind calculated the distance correction at high speeds.
"Corrections completed. Mophead," Tesla said.
"Understood. We will not waste this opportunity you two have created for us," Einstein said. "All systems fire."
As the Herrscher was about to unleash her wrath at the charging Kiana, the Hyperion's main cannon battery began to charge with an immense amount of power. And, as if the Sun had descended on the Earth, a powerful blast of blinding light struck the Herrscher of the Void's body.
"—!?"
The cracks in reality closed as suddenly as they opened. Her lances, which had manifested from the tears in the abyss, dissipated from the intense energy of the blast.
"W- What is this?" the Herrscher gasped.
A pain like she had never felt before struck her body. A pain whose description was beyond words assaulted every sense she possessed.
"N- No… Ahhhhh!" she let out a bloodcurdling scream of pain and agony.
Kiana halted to a stop just as the blast hit the Herscher.
"N- No! Stop it!" the Herrscher screamed, attempting to retaliate. Yet her body could no longer hold onto its reserves of Honkai energy. The energy leaked out of every crack and orifice in her body, shooting into the air as intense rays of white light.
The air became distorted as an intense heat radiated from the rays of light that fired in every direction from the Herrscher's leaking form.
"My body…!" she gasped. Her yellow eyes caught sight of what was happening to her firsthand.
Powerful currents of light bombarded her body, tearing every shred of energy and trace from her form. She fell to one knee, gasping for air. Her lungs struggled to breathe as the particles of light ripped her apart from the inside out.
This absolute weapon which could bring down even a God like her. A weapon crafted by the resilience and ingenuity of mankind. It was the world's greatest Honkai energy converted and the ultimate weapon of Anti-Entropy, born into existence by Edison in the 20th century.
Kiana watched the sight with a grim look in her eyes. The Selene—their hidden weapon—had been activated on her sister.
Himeko walked up to her, watching in morbid fascination as the Herrscher cried out in pain.
"Just hold her there for a few more minutes!" Tesla's voice rang in their ears. "Just a few minutes more and once she's weak, jam the Longinus Spear in her neck!"
"Roger that Doctor, I'll—"
"Sis…"
Kiana's eyes widened and she turned toward the Herrscher.
Within the pillar of light, Kiana saw not the malicious yellow eyes of the Herrscher but the blue eyes of her younger sister.
Cecilia reached out toward her weakly. "Kiana, it hurts…! Make it stop! Please— Kyaaaaa!"
Each cry of pain that Cecilia emitted was a fresh stab in Kiana's heart. Her body shook as she tried not to move.
"Kiana? Kiana, what's going on? Why aren't you responding?" Tesla asked.
"Kiana?" Himeko froze when she saw the look in Kiana's eyes. "Kiana, no! No! Don't! We just need a few more minutes to—"
"Sis… please… it hurts so much!" Cecilia begged as she tried to crawl toward Kiana. Her shaking hands reached out toward her.
Kiana took a slight step back. Her heart pounded in her chest as she watched her sister's face contort in untold agony. Beams of light seeped from her fingers before dispersing into intense waves of heat.
"Kiana, don't listen to her!" Himeko grabbed Kiana's shoulders.
"Ceci… we're killing her…"
"No! That's not Cecilia! You need to snap out of it! We just need a few minutes before—"
"Ahhh!" Cecilia's screams rang in their ears. The girl threw her head back and opened her mouth. Beams of light shot forth from them. Cracks began to form across her body.
"N-No! Ceci!" Kiana rushed forward with Shamash.
"Kiana, no!" Himeko ran forward and grabbed her.
"Let me go! Cecilia! We're going to kill her! LET ME GO!" Kiana thrashed in Himeko's grip while the redhead tightened her hold around her.
"No! I can't let you do this! We just need a few minutes—"
"I said LET ME GO!" Kiana screamed.
A violent pulse of Honkai energy slammed into Himeko, throwing her off.
"Oi! Kiana! Himeko! What's going on over there!?" Tesla's words fell on deaf ears.
"Doctor Tesla! Cecilia! She's awake! Turn off the cannon!" Kiana cried.
"What!? Are you insane!? We need to use the cannon to weaken her so we can use it—"
"It's killing her!" Kiana screamed into the comms.
"Kiana," Einstein spoke up, "The Herrscher employed similar tactics earlier in the fight. Don't fall for it. We absolutely cannot stop the rate of fire, otherwise, the Herrscher will recover and our chance will be gone."
Kiana gritted her teeth. "I…"
"Sis… please…"
Her eyes fell upon her sister's battered form. Energy continued to stream out of her as the powerful beam of light continued to bombard her wrecked body.
"Sis…"
Kiana's breath hitched when she saw them. A pair of eyes, whose shade was identical to her own, stared at her.
"Sis… I…" Cecilia reached out for her weakly.
Kiana shook her head, her mind and heart being torn apart. Her emotions warred with her reasoning. She wanted to stop this. To keep her sister from suffering any more than she already had yet her mind argued that it was necessary to save her. In the end, Cecilia's battered and weakened form caused her emotions to win out against her rationality.
"It's going to be okay, Cecilia," Kiana said, flashing her a reassuring smile.
"No… Sis… no! Don't…," Cecilia whispered. Yet, her words failed to reach her older sister's ears.
Flames swirled around Kiana. Her gaze fixed solely on the Selene.
"Kiana, I'm picking up a reaction from Shamash, what are you doing?" Tesla asked.
Kiana ignored her as she raised her blade.
"Kiana! NO! PUT THE SWORD DOWN!" Tesla's screams rang in her ears, yet she continued on.
With a powerful swing, Kiana unleashed a blaze of destruction toward the cannon. The cannon that had once been restraining the Herrscher of the Void had erupted in a plume of flames. The sudden stream of light suddenly stopped.
"Ceci—"
"No! What did you do?" Cecilia asked, looking at her sister almost desperately. "She was almost gone…"
"Ceci, what are you—"
"I can't believe it though… you're just as gullible as everyone else, Big Sis~!"
Kiana jumped back as a lance exploded from a portal in the ground. Her eyes widened when she saw the blues in her sister's eyes being snuffed out by the molten gold. Her grip around Shamash tightened once more as she retaliated.
A wave of flames slammed unexpectedly into the Herrscher, causing an explosion to rock the area.
The Herrscher flew, impacted by the blast, and slammed into the wall. She fell to the ground, bruised and battered. Her regeneration had slowed to a crawl. Her body barely had enough Honkai energy left. If she continued this fight…
The Herrscher looked up and glared hatefully at Kiana, whose gaze was fixed on her almost as if she were in a stupor.
She stood up, holding her arm.
"Cecilia…?"
Her body stiffened when the Herrscher heard the words leave Kiana's mouth. Her lips pursed into a line before a portal opened behind her. With one last look at Kiana, the Herrscher allowed herself to be pulled in by the rift's gravitational pull and vanish in a flash of light.
Yes that just happened.