Author's Note: This chapter contains spoilers for the end of the Anti-Entropy Invasion manga
As the violet lightning struck off in the distance, the entire city fell into a blackout, until only the light of the full moon remained.
KIANA stood there frozen, knowing exactly what was responsible.
"The Herrscher of Thunder…" she spoke softly, but with a harsh edge to it.
What was going on? There was no Eruption going on, no Herrscher could have descended so quickly.
"The Herrscher of Thunder you said? But that's impossible!" Oh right, the twins were here. They had heard her.
"Yeah, the Herrscher of Thunder appeared already, not even a full year ago! We heard about it from Matushka! Nagazora got destroyed in the Third Eruption!" The Herrscher of Thunder had already descended prior? So then what was going on now? The only reason they would be able to appear again was if…
"Was it ever confirmed that the Third Herrscher was killed?" KIANA asked the twins.
"Uh, well, we heard it was 'dealt with' so everyone figured that meant it was beaten." Liliya answered.
"Waitaminnit!" Rozaliya suddenly yelled. "I remember now! Matushka was very upset after the Eruption, cursing Schicksal! That's when she told us to stay away from Schicksal!" So Schicksal had spared the Herrscher? She ignored the question in her mind of why their Matushka was so informed and focused on the new information. She could understand some of the rationale behind sparing a Herrscher, given what Elysia had said.
All Herrschers in this Era had the same gift of humanity that she now had. They weren't the mindless slaves they used to be. That meant they could be reasoned with.
But then what was going on now? Based on what she knew of Schicksal, the likely reason for sparing the Herrscher was to have them fight on their side. Had that backfired? Was the Herrscher now turning against humanity again?
No, wait. She took a breath to calm herself down. There was no Eruption going on, even though the Herrscher could generate more than enough energy to create one. Yet despite that, the Herrscher had summoned a burst of energy, creating the blackout.
She looked around at the other people on the street. They were panicking, yes, but they weren't in immediate danger. They had no idea this was caused by a Herrscher. KIANA and the twins were the only ones who had a clue what was going on.
For now, the Herrscher wasn't creating a full scale Eruption. They were likely in a battle of some kind, powering up. That made a little more sense. But who were they fighting? Was the Herrscher fighting a separate enemy of humanity? Or were they fighting an ally of humanity, thus making the Herrscher an enemy?
No, she decided that she could investigate later. The Herrscher was practically broadcasting their location right now, so it'd be a simple matter to find them later. For now, she needed to make sure the twins stayed safe. If the Herrscher turned their sights on the city of Sapphire, the twins would be in grave danger.
She turned to the twins, her eyes widening as she saw them standing with their swords out.
"What do you think you're doing?" She demanded.
"What does it look like? If there's a Herrscher, then we need to stop it!" Rozaliya responded.
"No. You two may be stronger than most humans because of your Honkai infusion, but this is a Herrscher. They are leagues beyond what you can handle. Right now I need to keep you safe." She shut that down. Herrschers were much too dangerous for the twins to handle.
"If there's a Herrscher out and about, then nowhere in the city is safe. We'll be fine, our Matushka is part of Anti-Entropy." Anti-Entropy? That explained the lab where they got their tails at least. "It's her job to help people, so if we help people, we help her!"
What a stupidly roundabout yet straightforward way of thinking. She was tempted to use her Shade of Finality: Sentience to get them to back down, but before she could even get the chance, they had already disappeared among the crowd.
"Rozaliya! Liliya!" She called out after them, possibly the loudest she'd ever been.
Dammit! If the crowd weren't there, then it'd be simple to catch up to them, but they were so short that she already lost track of them despite their bright colors amidst the taller humans that were still panicking.
Those two wouldn't stand a chance against a Herrscher, and she didn't know if the Herrscher was an enemy or not, so she couldn't risk the twins getting near!
She took a breath trying to calm herself, at least she knew where they were heading. She could reach the area the Herrscher was in faster, then stay out of sight while waiting for the twins.
With luck, she'll be able to reach them and get them out of the area without the Herrscher of Thunder ever knowing they were there.
She made a quick leap up into the air, thankfully covered by the darkness and the panicking, then flew towards the Herrscher's location.
As she flew, she could sense from the Honkai that her earlier guess was correct. The Herrscher was fighting someone. However, at some point, the Herrscher of Thunder's Honkai readings vanished.
KIANA was almost tempted to say that the battle was over and dealt with, but then the Herrscher reappeared at full power, before a swirl of energy appeared.
At that point, KIANA felt slight confusion. She could sense two energies like that of the Herrscher of Thunder, one weaker than the other. Were there now two Herrschers of Thunder? Or had the Herrscher granted some of their power to someone else?
Her thoughts were cut off as she saw a brilliant light flash out in the distance, a laser charged with the energy of the 3rd Herrscher.
For a moment, she stilled, her heart turning to lead as she feared the worst case scenario. She shook herself out of those thoughts though.
There was no way that Rozaliya and Liliya could have gotten there before her, even with their head start. They were still alive.
They had to be.
She blinked away her blurry eyes and found herself over a forest, with a regal looking building off in the distance.
She was now on the edge of Sapphire, and she should be well ahead of the twins. Rather than get closer and risk being detected by the Herrscher, she resolved to search the forest for the twins before they could get there.
It was a large forest, but KIANA knew which direction the twins were coming from, and which direction they were going. She'd be able to catch them.
She didn't think she could forgive herself if they got killed.
A couple hours had passed, and KIANA was sitting against a tree in the forest, with her eyes closed tightly. However, she was not resting, not now of all times. In fact, even with her eyes closed she was still able to see.
While she herself was in the most likely spot for the twins, she kept her senses stretched across the whole forest, just in case they took a different path.
It was another power granted to her by the Shade of Finality: Void.
It was a discovery she had made only a couple hours ago, and part of why she believed she had such trouble using it on the Moon.
She had previously been warping half-hazardly, without truly 'seeing' where she wanted to go, even though her destination was right in front of her. The power of the Void was that of 'seeing' as well as 'warping'. To be able to warp, one first needed to 'see' where they were going.
At the moment, she was only using that 'sight' instead of the warp, which let her keep an eye on the whole forest.
She suspected that with the true power of the Herrscher of the Void, rather than her weakened Shade, one might even be able to see into other worlds.
Luckily, she didn't need to look into other worlds, and as she caught something approaching her location, she opened her eyes and cut off her power, smiling all the while.
She found them.
The bushes in front of her parted, revealing two tired looking girls in pink and blue.
"Lili, how much longer? My legs are killing me." Rozaliya groaned.
"We already took a break and ended up oversleeping, we can't take any more." Liliya drawled. "Sorry, I stayed up too late past 7:00 today."
"Aw, but that means we're gonna miss the fight! I haven't heard any big booms in forever!" Now that they were closer, KIANA could see that they were walking with their eyes closed, practically sleepwalking.
"We can't go back now, KIANA would kill us." Liliya paused, her eyes just open enough to catch the white haired figure standing in front of them. "K-K-KIANA?"
"Yeah, she would kill us, wouldn't she? After we left her in the dust and ignored her, she probably hates us now." Rozaliya however had not yet noticed her, and continued speaking in a drawl.
"K-K-KIANA, she's-" Liliya stuttered, no longer sleepy.
"But who's she to tell us off like that? Of course we're gonna try to help people who need it, Herrscher be damned." For Rozaliya's sake, KIANA hoped that her thoughts were being impeded by her clear tiredness.
"R-Roza, it's KIANA, she's-" Liliya whispered to Rozaliya.
"Right here?" KIANA finished for her. Rozaliya froze, her eyes shooting open.
"A-Ah-huh. KIANA, nice to see you…?" Rozaliya trailed off, making her statement sound more like a question.
She was about to find her answer. KIANA started walking towards them.
"N-Now wait a minute, KIANA, I-I'm sure we c-can talk about this." Liliya tried to be the voice of reason, but KIANA kept walking forward.
"We're sorry! Please don't kill us!" Rozaliya cried out, as KIANA reached out her hands to them, and…
Reached around and wrapped them in a tight hug.
"Huh?" The twins collectively asked.
"Don't scare me like that again. Please." KIANA's voice was soft, but to the twins it hit like a truck.
'Oh.' They both realized.
"We're sorry." Rozaliya repeated, much more honestly this time.
"We didn't mean to worry you." Liliya whispered.
"We just wanted to help." Rozaliya said softly. And KIANA knew that they really did.
But this was a Herrscher. 50,000 years ago, each individual Herrscher had killed off millions, crushing humanity into a fine dust until she descended to sweep away the remains. And these two tried marching off to fight one of those.
KIANA didn't know what had caused the Herrscher of Thunder to awaken here, and she didn't really care anymore. The twins were safe.
She let out a deep breath and let go of the twins.
"We're going to go back to the city and get ready to go back to Siberia. Ok?" The twins nodded.
"Ok." KIANA repeated, more sure this time. She couldn't even be mad at them, just grateful they were safe.
She hadn't even known she could feel such strong emotions before, but these two had given her both a crushing sense of dread and elated sense of joy within the span of a couple hours.
The matter was over. Rozaliya and Liliya were safe.
The three of them walked through the forest, KIANA unknowingly holding both of their hands.
KIANA suddenly stopped, bringing the twins to a stop too, as she stared off to where she heard something.
From the foliage, a man approached.
He was wearing a navy blue jacket, which matched his spiked up navy hair. His face had odd glowing blue markings that KIANA could tell were brimming with Honkai.
Oh, and he was missing an arm.
He seemed to be muttering to himself, not even noticing the three of them. KIANA decided to alert him to their presence.
"Are you alright? You seem to be missing an arm."
His eyes shot up instantly, seeming to take a moment to focus on them standing in front of him.
"What the hell? Who are you?"
He recoiled for a moment upon seeing her.
"Wait, aren't you that stupid Valk? No, wait, you're a little different."
Now that she looked at him, something was telling her he was familiar to her. It was the same sense that told her that Elysia was Origin, back when they met.
But this felt off. This man was not familiar to her, he was not a Herrscher either.
He seemed to shrug off his shock at her face.
"No matter, it's a shame you're such a pretty girly, but Papa's not in the mood to play around right now. Nobody can know that I've escaped."
He held out his remaining hand, and a black orb of energy appeared. KIANA's eyes widened. She knew that power, it was…
"Don't worry, 100Gs won't hurt that much. It may just leave a mess."
"Get back!" She yelled to the twins, pushing them backwards as he launched his attack. It struck her dead on.
"Ggh!" Suddenly, it felt like her own body was crushing her. This was the power of the 9th Herrscher.
"Why the hell aren't you a puddle yet?!" The man seemed frustrated that she wasn't dead yet, but frankly she felt she had more reason to be upset.
Why was someone here with the power of the 9th? And why didn't he feel like he was actually a Herrscher? Was he the one Thunder was fighting?
She tried to get up, but her body couldn't move. She'd have to use more of her power to break free, but in front of the twins?
"Get offa her!" Rozaliya and Liliya leaped into action, their swords pointed at the attacker.
No! They had to get back! Whether he was Herrscher or not, this guy was dangerous nonetheless!
"Tch, so you're more Valkyries then, huh? You wanna die that bad? Fine, go nuts, you damn brats!" He called two more black holes into existence, aiming them at each of his new opponents.
"I'll show you how stars shatter!" He screamed out as he launched his attacks at the twins. KIANA's eyes widened.
She didn't even hesitate as she reached deep within herself.
Suddenly, the black holes cracked and exploded. No, they were sliced through.
Wielding her black and orange polearm, and garbed in her indigo Herrscher dress, the Herrscher of Finality stood before the twins.
Luckily she had just avoided actually taking on the authority of Finality. That would have done more harm than good. Her dress and lance would suffice.
"What the hell? Another new battlesuit? You Valks just love pulling this shit outta your asses!" He cried out.
"Know this! I am Welt Joyce! I am the Sovereign who shall control the world! I am the Herrscher of Reason who commands the laws of Gravity itself! I will not be bested by a group of stupid brats like you!" He spoke a lot of words, but only one thing stood out to KIANA there.
"Are you an idiot?" She said, tilting her head at him with a deadpan look.
"Huh?" He seemed baffled that she would respond to his speech in such a way.
"The Herrscher of Reason commands the power of creation, not gravity. That power you wield is that of the Herrscher of Earth." She spoke in a similar manner as she always did, but wearing this Herrscher dress, it came off as much more regal.
"O-Of Earth?" He seemed even more confused now. Did he really not know? "No, no no no no…" He muttered. "I am the 1st Herrscher, I laugh at the laws of physics…"
"You keep saying things like that, but you aren't even a Herrscher. Neither the 1st nor the 9th." KIANA's glare hardened as she began walking towards him. "You're just a Pretender to the name."
"Shut up, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" He yelled out. "Who are you to tell me what I am?! I decide what I am, not you!" At that, he created a gravitational field around KIANA, stopping her in her tracks. She was slightly surprised that he could still muster up this strength, she couldn't even move a step anymore.
"I was gonna make it quick for you, but now you've pissed me off! You're gonna learn what pain really means, you bitch!" He created more black holes and surrounded her with them. She didn't even glance at them and kept staring at him.
"How does it feel to be torn apart in every direction? Earth? No, my power is able to command the very stars themselves!" He was laughing maniacally now, certain in his victory.
"KIANA!" The twins called out. At that, she turned her head to face them.
"Don't worry, I've got this." Despite the numerous black holes that should have drowned out any sound from her, KIANA's voice was still able to reach them.
They didn't have to know it was aided by her Shade of Finality: Sentience.
She turned back to the Pretender called Welt.
She had been tempted to use the power of Sentience on him too, but that risked getting the twins caught in the crossfire if he started firing randomly. No, she had a better idea for him.
She thought over his words. Power to command the Stars themselves, huh? It's true, the name 'Herrscher of Earth' was something of a misnomer, as at the time humanity had thought that the power of the 9th was that of manipulating the ground, when in truth it was gravity.
So she supposed that she was at least grateful to this Pretender for helping her realize a better name.
It wouldn't save him though. Not after he tried to hurt the twins.
So she reached into herself once again, brushing past the Cocoon.
Shade of Finality: Stars
KIANA was suddenly surrounded by a black and red aura, one that caused Welt to stare in shock. He knew that aura.
After all, it was the same as his own.
KIANA began walking towards him again, no longer impeded by his gravitational field.
"N-No! Stay back! What the hell even are you?" Welt Joyce backed up slowly, his steps matched by KIANA.
"You haven't figured it out already? No, I suppose you wouldn't." Her words were soft, only reaching him and not the twins still standing further back. "No, you can't feel that same sense of familiarity. After all…"
Welt stared in shock as the black holes he created to tear KIANA apart were shrinking, no longer under his command. No, they were compressing. She held out a hand towards him.
"You're just a Pretender." The black holes shot out towards him.
'A Herrscher-!' He realized just before his own black holes punched through him.
His body fell to the ground with numerous holes littering it. He was dead.
KIANA released the power of Stars and turned away from the corpse to the twins, who were hugging each other with their eyes closed. That was good, she didn't really want to have to use her power over Sentience on them.
"It's okay, he's gone now."
The twins slowly opened their eyes and looked at KIANA standing in front of them. Rozaliya caught a glimpse of blue lying on the ground further back, but before she could see better KIANA stood in front of it, blocking her view.
"KIANA, you're…" Rozaliya seemed to choke on her words before she managed to find her voice again.
"You're okay!" Suddenly she was bawling, and jumped up to grab KIANA in a hug.
"I was so scared! *hic* You were standing there, about to die, you had all those black holes around you! *hic* I couldn't stand to watch! But- But then! *hic* You're okay! You won!" Rozaliya cried out.
"What's the big idea? Telling us not to scare you, then pulling a stunt like that?" Liliya spoke far more calmly, but KIANA could see tears streaking down her face as her mouth was upturned in a quivering frown. KIANA let out a sigh. They had a point.
"Sorry, I was so worried about keeping you safe that I went and did something similar." She ignored that she had known she'd be fine as the Herrscher of Finality, since the twins obviously didn't know that. "I guess that makes me a hypocrite."
"Y-You're not a hippo. You're KIANA." Rozaliya seemed to mishear her. "You're okay." She repeated.
Liliya silently joined the hug, before realizing what KIANA was wearing.
"This is the dress from the audition… So it was a battlesuit all along? Are you a Valkyrie, KIANA?" There was that term again.
"I've been called that a lot lately. But no, I'm not a Valkyrie. I'm," She paused, remembering Rozaliya's blubbering, and smiled. "I'm just KIANA."
Liliya seemed content with the answer and went back to hugging her.
The three simply sat there, glad the others were safe.