The moon hung in silence, a barren corpse above a dying world.
Dust floated like ash through the thin exosphere, slowly swirling against broken towers and ruined landing platforms. The remains of the Flame-Chasers stood by the only surviving spacecraft – a damaged, wounded thing kept together by what little scrap technology still functioned.
Kevin moved steadily along its hull, double checking seals with brutal precision. Hua stood by the open hatch, scanning the navigational readouts, her brow creased tighter with every flickering screen. Above them, perched on a twisted steel beam, Vill-V balanced easily – legs crossed, a battered locket spinning between her gloved fingers. The broken chain wound and slipped through her grasp with every absent-minded twist. Nearby, leaning against the remains of a battered rover, Mobius watched.
Silent.
Cold.
The ground beneath them shuddered softly – not from battle, but as if a groan of the Moon itself. And above it all, frozen in orbit, the giant form of the Herrscher of Finality hung motionless, Kevin's mighty blow having stunned her into silence for a short time.
But not forever.
Ten hours.
No more.
Vill-V spun the locket faster, feeling the chain catch, then snap back against her fingers, the lack of resistance allowing it to speed up rapidly. Inside the locket – behind a cracked, weathered glass plate – a photograph still clung to life. A rough, crowded shot of thirteen individuals pressed together: Kevin, Elysia, Aponia, Eden, herself, Kalpas, Su, Sakura, Kosma, Mobius, Griseo, Hua, and Pardofelis.
All caught in an impossible moment of light – some laughing, others lightly grimacing, and some simply there because a pink haired elf had pulled them into the frame. And at the bottom, scrawled in unmistakeable handwriting, neat but playful:
"My Greatest Creations :)"
Vill-V smiled at it – not a broad grin this time, but something smaller.
Something quieter. More subtle.
A memory that, although recent, felt like a lifetime ago – tugged at her.
Kosma, standing stiffly to the side, awkward and embarrassed – a teenager whose only dream was to be one of the heroes he admired so much.
Pardofelis, sticking two fingers up behind Kosma's head, struggling to suppress her giggles.
Kalpas, scowling fiercely, arms crossed as if he would prefer to be anywhere else, but not leaving.
Dead now.
Kosma and Kalpas, crushed in the fight against Finality.
Pardo torn apart while sacrificing herself, creating a pathway to the Cocoon of Finality.
Vill-V's hands tightened slightly, the locket chain biting into her glove.
She let the memories drift further:
Sakura, standing apart, poised, eyes half-closed, the faintest sadness threading through her.
Dead.
Died after trying to bring her sister to her senses, but failed. Dying with Kevin standing by her side.
Elysia, the one pulling everyone together – enabling the disjointed Flame-Chasers to work together – sacrificed herself, so that future Herrschers can keep their humanity.
Gone.
Vill-V felt her throat tighten – a fleeting, useless reaction she pushed aside almost immediately. No one wanted to see the magician falter before the final act.
Below her, Kevin secured the last panel with a wrenching snap. He stood for a moment longer, knuckles clenched against the metal. Vill-V watched him, her eyes narrowing thoughtfully.
Kevin.
Always moving forward, even when there was nothing left to save. A broken man bound by a promise. Even now, dragging the burden of all of them towards a future that they might never reach.
She flipped the locket one last time and stood, wobbling slightly on the warped beam. Her knees screamed protest – she ignored it, striking a theatrical pose against the ruin-strewn backdrop of the stars.
"Hey, mighty heroes!" She called down, voice cutting through the dead air like a blade.
"You done kissing your ship goodbye yet? It's not like you're parting with it just yet!"
Kevin raised his head, meeting her gaze with a flicker of something, an emotion that she quite couldn't place. Hua didn't glance away from her screens, making sure all the coordinates were accurate. Mobius stirred slightly at the sound – her eyes narrowing, tracking Vill-V's movements like a predator hunting its prey.
Vill-V smiled even wider – almost too wide – and flicked her wrist. The locket arced through the air, spinning once, catching the faint lunar light, before Kevin caught it without hesitation, lest it float off into space.
For a moment he just looked down at it, frowning slightly. Then he opened it. Vill-V watched from above as his gaze fell to the photograph. The figures, distorted by the cracked glass, with words scratched at the bottom.
"My Greatest Creations :)"
Kevin's mouth tightened into a thin line.
No anger.
Just something quieter.
He traced his thumb across the surface, gently, as if afraid the image might fall apart completely.
Suddenly, Vill-V felt something cold and tight unspool in her chest – something she had packed away a very long time ago.
"Take it," she told him, voice softer now.
"Somebody's got to make sure they'll know we existed."
Kevin closed the locket carefully, slipping it into a small inner pocket in his coat – close to his heart. "I will," he said – voice steady, but the tightness around his eyes betrayed him. Hua finished her checks and stepped back, silent. For a long moment, none of them moved.
Then, unexpected, Mobius spoke – her voice a soft rasp against the empty sky.
"Survival," her tone grave, "was never a guaranteed outcome.
But memory... memory lasts longer."
Vill-V's head tilted slightly, observing her. For all her coldness, even Mobius – even the scientist who treats emotions as mere variables in her experiments – felt the cracks growing wider now.
Hua finally broke the stillness, glancing towards the irradiated wasteland that was once Earth far below. "The others are still waiting on us," she paused briefly, taking a deep breath. "We need to give them more time."
Vill-V's smirk sharpened again, forced back into place like armour. "Well then! You better get going! If you screw up before you can even start, I'm gonna haunt whatever miserable bunker you end up in!"
Kevin gave a grim snort – almost a laugh.
Almost, but not quite.
He immediately turned serious.
"I promise you. No matter the costs, humanity shall purge Honkai"
Vill-V's grin drops, before she quickly puts it back on. "Now that's what I like to hear! We'll try to buy as much time as we can. Although we won't be able to distract her for very long."
Hua grimly responds "Even a singular minute will be valuable."
"A minute, huh? Sounds feasible."
Vill-V leapt lightly to the ground, stumbling a little, masking it with an exaggerated bow.
"After all," she mutters, voice rising with a dramatic flair,
"I made a sword with the power of a supernova. How hard can a miracle be?"
Despite her bravado, she couldn't help but nervously chuckle.
Vill-V could feel the doomsday clock ticking, each second reverberating through her mind like a bell.
Not long until the Herrscher comes back.
Not nearly long enough.