Chapter 3: Investigation, Conflict IX

Siberian Tundra, with Sirin:

The Void Queen floated in the air with no one else visible in the distance, only her new dragon for company. "Why are you panting, my pet? Are you still hungry, hmm? Be patient… for there will be more food at that place… Babylon Labs. Every single Valkyrie that evil Overseer sends will die."

Suddenly, the dragon let out a pain-filled roar. "Wait! Something's wrong!"

'Sorry, girl. I can't let you leave this place.' From inside its belly, Welt Yang tore himself a hole in the beast's flesh, freeing himself from darkness. "Alright. Let's get Round 2 started."

However, even with its 'stomach' cut open from inside, the dragon let out a roar of defiance, a giant claw quickly moving to crush the one which threatened its master.

"Stay down, wyrm." A gigantic mechanical fist materialized out of nothing and smashed the threat downward. As Sirin let out a cry of surprise at this rapid development, her dragon did not rise again.

"Tremble before the might of Welt, the First Herrscher and Hero of Humanity!" With the full use of the Authority of Reason, hundreds of battle robots were constructed with the power of 300,000 collective human minds. Priming rocket launchers and readying bullet magazines, the army of human creations stood in defiance of the threat in front of Welt Yang. "The human race will stop you here, Void Queen!"

A storm of ammunition was fired at the Second Herrscher. "An ambush?! How dare you use human weapons against me!" Moments later, the army's volley impacted at her position… However, when the smoke cleared, the girl remained unharmed, every single blast blocked by blue energy shields. "Pathetic. The First Herrscher's powers are a disgrace to the Honkai!"

But before the Void Queen's eyes, fractures formed on the surface of her barriers. "Impossible, how dare this human garbage break this Aegis of God?! I'll show you what true Herrscher powers are, traitor!" In retaliation, blue arms stretched out from portals again and tore the robot mechs to pieces. "Bow before the might of God!"

With a grunt of effort, the Herrscher of Reason constructed even more battle mechs to replace the ones he just lost. "What?! You're cheating! You can't keep creating those mechs from thin air!" the Second Herrscher called out.

"Wrong. This isn't cheating. This is the True Might of the First Herrscher: Once I learn the structure of a human creation…" As Welt Yang spoke, trucks of mobile missile launchers and even more mechs materialized. "…I can make a copy of it with Honkai energy." Even cutting-edge, highly advanced military fighter jets were constructed in the blink of an eye.

"The legion of Humanity shall stand as long as I live." Unexpectedly, a ship's horn also sounded from behind her… As the Void Queen turned, the most absurd sight was revealed: An entire battleship—no, multiple battleships all armed with great cannons floated in the middle of the Siberian Tundra. "You have declared war on the human world: now you will pay the price!"

"DAMNIT! He's now creating entire armies from nothing!?" Sirin screamed to herself, panicking. Flying higher in a futile effort to attempt retreat or advance, she tried to come up with any plan that countered this threat by her enemy. "I must stop him before he overwhelms me with superior numbers…!" High above the land, her orange eyes looked at what she faced in its entirety: she saw military jets and battleships all floating in the sky around her; guns, launchers and cannons gleaming in the sun above the clouds.

"I AM WELT OF HUMANITY! And I stand against you, dark queen, as a warrior guardian of the human race!" As Welt Yang stood on the ground below, missiles around him locked on to their target in the sky, a trickle of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth from the strain of using his powers in constructing so much all at once… yet the man persevered. "Law and Reason, not the Chaos of Void, shall prevail today!"

'HEAR ME, MIGHTY HOST OF HUMANITY! UNLEASH A TORRENT OF FIRE AND IRON UPON THIS FALSE DEITY!'

Siberia Tundra, Outside the Tower of Babylon Labs

Massive blasts, explosions, along with clouds of dust and smoke, erupted in the sky far away where the two Herrschers battled. On the roof of the facility, Dr Einstein watched on.

"It has finally begun…" Opening a voice-only call, the blue-haired scientist gave out an order for her colleague. "Contact Dr Tesla. Have her prep the SILVER BULLET!"

30 kilometers away, the red-haired, twin-tailed scientist gave acknowledgement. "Roger that, Mophead," Accidentally letting out some sounds, Dr Tesla continued speaking. "…I'm not crying. I'm fine, thank you. Bye!" Ending the call quickly, she let out a small sniff. "Joachim, you stupid jerk? Why do you want to be like him so much? Can't you stop acting as the lonely hero for once…?"

Hurriedly suppressing her tears in the corner of her eyes, the enforcer of Anti-Entropy knew what she had to do. "Alright, Void Queen. Nikola Tesla is getting down to business. It's time to show you the true might of the human race!"

However… not far away from the battlefield… someone had awoken after the first few explosions had blown against blue shields… and a boy was determined to protect his only remaining friend, keeping his promise to another in the process.

Returning to the clash of Void and Reason:

As the assault of missiles and cannon fire continued, the Void Queen continued resisting the explosions, her blue hexagonal energy shields continually refreshing at the expense of her power reserves, yet… the girl refused to give up against her enemy.

"NYET! I refuse to run away! There must be something I can do…!" Sirin strained under the barrage of Welt's mechanical creations… the Honkai Cherub hovering at her ear again, humming something. "Victory shall be MINE!" Utilizing a new technique, the Second Herrscher converted her hexagonal barriers into portals as well, the ammunition being fired at her flying into them instead of blowing up.

VOID REDIRECTION

New portals opened up above the Lord of Reason's army, causing his own attacks to be redirected from firing on the Void Queen to firing on his own army.

"So, this Void Queen knows how to bend and shift spatial dimensions… and redirect my attacks against my forces." Welt stood in the midst of burning ruins, missile trucks destroyed around him. "A most terrifying skill when exercised by the right mind. But this fight… is FAR from over!"

The Herrscher of Reason clenched his fist, and his army was restored, rebuilding themselves with Cogitative Reassembly. "Our flesh may be weak, but we refuse to kneel! The human race has fought for every moment of its survival! DO YOUR WORST, VOID QUEEN. OUR BATTLE HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN!"

But at the same time, with Dr Tesla, a final ace was being prepared. "Trajectory set. Silver Bullet v0314 is armed and ready to go. Initiate firing sequence. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1."

Dr Einstein closed her eyes, and Dr Tesla let a single tear fall.

"We have ignition. Missile away."

With Sirin, she was also panting with exertion from redirecting all attacks aimed at her. "You can't keep using your powers like that! I'll destroy every army you create! Your efforts are futile! Just die already!" Opening more portals with Dimensional Warp, even more of Welt's own cannon/missile fire shooting out redirected against him. "Hngh… I'll kill you with your own weapons! Choke on your own filth!" The redirected attacks exploded around Welt, but when the smoke cleared he was still whole, red energy dissipating from his own barriers he used to protect himself.

"Urk… Is that all you've got?" However, there were consequences for such a sudden creation of defenses… The Herrscher of Reason coughed up some blood from near overuse of his powers. "If you're a true Herrscher, I must say that I'm not impressed. The next army I create… will definitely give you a world of hurt." As Welt raised his arm again, seemingly about to resume, more energy arms formed around him and restrained his hands behind his back, forcing him to his knees, immobilized.

Sirin floated in the air in front of him, finally victorious… or so she thought. "Game over… Pseudo-Herrscher. It took me awhile, but it was fun while it lasted, fool." To her shock… Welt Yang let out a chuckle. 'Why is he smiling? Is this a trap?"

The Sovereign of Anti-Entropy turned his head to the sky, and the girl followed his gaze… to see something dropping from the sky, directly aimed at them.

The SILVER BULLET: a delivery system for weaponized fissile material developed by Dr Einstein of Anti-Entropy; also known as the NUCLEAR BOMB.

At that exact moment, the Second Herrscher did not know what that object re-entering the Earth's atmosphere could do… but Sirin's sixth sense, the fight-or-flight instinct, told her this object might kill her.

"What… should I do…?"

With the warhead approaching so fast, there was no time to warp to safety… and the Void Queen currently lacked the power—her Honkai energy reserves too spent—to send it to a pocket dimension. Desperate, Sirin abandoned Welt and flew as high as she could, drawing upon all her remaining energy (powers)…

…and sent it into the earth below her.

But… this was a fatal mistake.

The warhead impacted, hitting the ground… and the resulting explosion blew so high Sirin was knocked unconscious.