Hearing the voice in her mind, "Kiana"—or rather, Sirin, who now occupied Kiana's body—felt her chest heave with rage. She was clearly furious.
Lies rarely hurt, but the truth is a sharp knife.
She knew her own situation all too well. Remembering her idiotic maneuvers during the Second Honkai Eruption, how she was repeatedly outplayed by Schicksal and Anti-Entropy due to her overconfidence, turning a winning hand into a total loss...
She had to admit, Kiana was kind of right!
But that only made her angrier.
"It was just a moment of carelessness that let them slip through. Once I recover my power, I'll never give them another chance!"
[Why are you explaining yourself to me, Herrscher? It's not like I was the one who killed you back then.]
[Oh... I get it now. You're getting defensive!]
"Shut up! Letting you live is my greatest act of mercy. Don't push your luck!"
[Triggered! You're totally triggered!]
Listening to the incessant taunts in her head, Sirin's anger climbed higher and higher, making her want to tear off her disguise and go on a destructive rampage.
But just as her rage was about to reach its breaking point, it was as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her. The fury on her face vanished in an instant.
In its place was a chilling smile.
Sirin leaned against the wall, one hand pressed to her chest, feeling the coldness in her heart as her smile grew even icier.
"Fine! For now, I'll admit to the mistakes I've made in the past."
She tilted her head as if in thought.
"What's that saying? To know your faults and be able to change is the greatest of virtues, right?"
"So this time, I'll learn my lesson. I won't reveal any weaknesses until my power is fully restored."
"I will use your appearance, and even if it's slow, I will accumulate my power bit by bit."
"Until I have the strength to overturn this entire world."
"Only then will I reveal my power and announce the return of the Queen of the Void to the world."
"And my comeback gift will be the destruction of humanity."
Sirin smiled maliciously.
"How about it, Kiana? Or should I say, K-423? Aren't I a good girl who knows how to learn from her mistakes?"
[Sirin, you...!]
Hearing Kiana's frustrated outburst in her mind, a trace of mockery crept onto Sirin's face.
"Kiana, why deceive yourself?"
"You've already seen everything in the Tower of Babylon labs. You know the reason for your own birth. And despite all that, you still refuse to give up on that ridiculous fantasy of yours?"
As she spoke, Kiana's consciousness reacted violently, actually putting a slight pressure on her.
[Herrscher of the Void, don't even think about corrupting me! A Kaslana warrior will never bow to the Honkai! I will defeat you!]
Hearing Kiana's words, the mockery on Sirin's face vanished, replaced by pure, unadulterated rage.
"Kiana, you idiot... I've already laid the facts right in front of you!"
"That man, Siegfried, was just using you as a tool! Your birth was nothing more than Schicksal's crude experiment to usurp my Authority! In this entire world, no one truly cares about you except for me! How long are you going to keep lying to yourself?"
[Hmph! Herrscher, don't try to trick me!]
[Nyah nyah nyah!]
Sirin could almost picture Kiana making a face at her inside her own mind.
"I've shown you the truth! Why won't you believe me?!"
[Dad said that nothing a Herrscher says is true! You're definitely lying to me.]
[Hmph! You'll never corrupt this Lady!]
Suddenly, Sirin felt Kiana's struggles intensify. Even her control over the body felt a bit sluggish.
She flew into a rage.
"Enough! You ungrateful brat." Sirin forcefully suppressed Kiana's consciousness. "Since you refuse to cooperate, I'll just erase you completely once I've recovered my power!"
As her will asserted itself, Kiana's consciousness in her mind gradually fell silent.
After it was done, Sirin flexed her arms and found that she had regained full control of the body.
But her face was a little pale. Forcibly suppressing Kiana's consciousness wasn't without its cost.
Though she hated to admit it, Kiana was also the master of this body. Sirin couldn't actually erase her consciousness completely.
And for some reason, though Kiana's consciousness was weak, it was incredibly resilient. No matter how hard she suppressed it, it would always break free.
Lately, she'd also noticed that Kiana's consciousness was starting to act like a spring—the harder she pushed, the fiercer the resistance.
Although her words just now had been full of contempt, only she knew that in her current state, she couldn't maintain full control of the body for long.
That's why she had tried to tell Kiana her origin story, hoping to pull her over to her side.
But who would have thought that no matter how many facts she presented, the girl simply refused to believe her, and instead kept getting in her way.
"Dammit, if it weren't for that guy..."
Thinking of him, Sirin pressed her hand against her heart, a flicker of anger on her face.
And a trace of... imperceptible fear.
She could feel a terrifying cold coalescing into a solid mass around her Herrscher Core, sealing it in ice and cutting off almost all her control over it.
What horrified her even more was that this cold energy had even frozen the normally intangible Honkai energy, completely severing her ability to draw power directly from the Sea of Quanta.
This also meant she couldn't use the Sea of Quanta's power to break the seal.
"Siegfried... no, it definitely wasn't Siegfried. He couldn't be that strong."
"Just what was that monster that possessed his body...?"
Proud as Sirin was, she would never admit her fear.
But recalling the humiliation and helplessness she felt when facing him, Sirin couldn't help but grit her teeth and slam a fist into the wall behind her.
"Damn you! When I get my full power back, I'll make you wish you were never born!"
Taking a few deep breaths, Sirin used her fingers to pinch the corners of her mouth, her cold expression gradually becoming energetic and cheerful. The golden hue in her eyes faded, returning to a deep, ocean blue.
Right now, almost all of her power was gone. If Schicksal or Anti-Entropy discovered her now, they would never let a weakened Herrscher like her go.
She still needed to use Kiana's identity to lay low. Now was not the time for revenge.
Sirin, or rather, the Herrscher of the Void, couldn't have simply returned from the dead so easily after being killed in the Second Honkai Eruption.
After all, she was the Herrscher of the Void, not the Herrscher of Finality. Besides, even the Herrscher of Finality would die if killed.
In truth, she had been awake for some time now.
But unfortunately, she woke up at a very bad time. Or rather, she was beaten awake.
Siegfried, or the monster that possessed Siegfried's body—it was his killing intent that had awakened Sirin.
The result was that the moment she woke up, she was thrown into a fierce battle with him.
Alright, that was a euphemism. In reality, she was no match for him at all. Even using her Authority, she was still brutally thrashed.
That monster's icy power could even freeze space itself. One of his punches nearly shattered her Herrscher Core.
Looking back, if she hadn't woken up to take that beating for Kiana, Kiana's frail body would have long since become ice dust on the Siberian tundra.
She had clearly saved the girl, and yet she gets called a pufferfish for her trouble. Just thinking about it made her mad.
Sirin clutched her chest, feeling the coldness in her heart.
She didn't know what that thing was, or if it was even human, but she had to admit its power.
"If I was at my peak... would I be a match for that thing?"
Sirin's heart sank.
She sighed.
Regardless, she had survived. The monster that possessed Siegfried's body had, for some unknown reason, lost its killing intent towards her and disappeared into the blizzard.
But that battle came at a price.
Before leaving, the monster had sealed her Herrscher Core, leaving her almost completely powerless.
"Maybe I should have just retreated when I woke up..."
Her earlier harsh words weren't just to provoke Kiana; she really did intend to fix her flaw of overconfidence.
Thinking back to how her confidence had skyrocketed the moment she awoke, Sirin was filled with regret. She wished she could go back in time and give herself a good thrashing.
Although she couldn't beat him then, with the escape advantage her Authority of Space provided, if she had been dead set on running, almost no one could have stopped her.
But at the time, her habitual overconfidence kicked in. Combined with the rage from being beaten for no reason, how could the proud Queen of the Void possibly swallow that insult?
So, shouting that "a Herrscher's dignity cannot be trampled," she activated her Authority and charged head-on.
And then... and then it was over.
Sirin couldn't help but facepalm.
If any of her fellow Herrschers found out about this, she would become a complete laughingstock. What kind of Herrscher fails so spectacularly?
But thankfully, she wasn't completely without hope.
"As long as I can break the seal, everything will be fine. I still have a chance."
As for how to break the seal...
Sirin turned her head and looked deeper into the alley.
She wasn't just hiding here to escape the heat... at least, not entirely.
SCRAPE—
The sound of something metallic dragging on the ground echoed through the alley. Sirin drew two pistols, a hint of anticipation on her face.
Soon, under her gaze, a figure dragging a scythe emerged from the alley.
It was a pale-skinned girl with empty, vacant eyes, her whole body exuding an inhuman aura.
—A Deadwalker.
The lowest level of Honkai-infected unit.
But the moment she saw this Deadwalker, a look of disappointment crossed Sirin's face.
"Just a low-level Deadwalker?"
"Oh well, beggars can't be choosers."
At her peak, this Deadwalker wouldn't even have registered in her eyes. It wouldn't even have been qualified to be cannon fodder under her command.
But as the saying goes, that was then, this is now.
The once-mighty Herrscher of the Void had fallen so low that even a Deadwalker was a tempting chicken leg.
As she was thinking, Sirin controlled the body and closed in on the Deadwalker.
The Deadwalker paused for a moment, seeming to sense a feeling of dominance from the white-haired girl before it.
But it was only a brief pause. With her Herrscher Core completely sealed, Sirin no longer had any control over Deadwalkers.
So, in the next moment, the Deadwalker prepared to swing its scythe.
But unfortunately, even though Sirin's max-level account had been banned, Kiana's body was still more than a mere Deadwalker could handle.
Before it could even react, Sirin was in front of it. She twirled her guns with a flourish and then slammed their butts into the Deadwalker's head.
THUD!
With a satisfying thwack, the Deadwalker crumpled to the ground.
The moment it died, its body began to disintegrate, turning into pure Honkai energy about to return to the world.
But before it could, a stronger gravitational pull drew the energy in.
Sirin held out her hand, and a faint wisp of Honkai energy flowed through her fingers into her body, gathering around the outside of her Herrscher Core.
She could feel that although the seal still looked solid, it was actually like a river without a source.
With enough Honkai energy, it was very likely she could break it.
Sirin couldn't help but smile.
After reawakening to find her Herrscher Core sealed and her power greatly diminished, she didn't choose to fight humanity to the bitter end this time. Instead, she wisely chose to lay low, biding her time while looking for a way to recover her strength.
Her previous death was not without its benefits. At the very least, it had taught her caution.
Learning from her last mistake, she was determined not to reveal her existence until she had recovered her full power and had an absolute guarantee of victory.
She would quietly regain her strength, and then give Schicksal and Anti-Entropy a "big surprise"!
In short, she was grinding and farming.
After killing a Honkai Beast in the Siberian tundra and absorbing its energy, she had figured out how to break the seal.
There was just one problem: Schicksal's omnipresent surveillance. If she did anything too out of the ordinary, she risked exposing herself.
That blond-haired Overseer never seemed to have given up on watching her. If he discovered her revival, with her current power level, the outcome would not be pretty.
Faced with a huge crisis, the lack of power forced her to use her brain, which hadn't been turned on for a long time.
After much deliberation, she finally came up with a foolproof plan.
That is, to pretend to be Kiana!
She would deal with Schicksal's surveillance by playing the part of Kiana.
And given Kiana's personality, she would never turn a blind eye to Deadwalkers and Honkai Beasts. Sirin could use Kiana's identity to justifiably kill them and regain her strength.
In Schicksal's eyes, her current actions were perfectly in line with Kiana's character.
That blond Overseer would never suspect that she had reawakened and was using the pretense of cleaning up Deadwalkers and Honkai Beasts to regain her power.
Thinking of this, Sirin couldn't help but marvel at her own genius.
If only she had used this world-shaking intellect sooner, would she have ever fallen so low?
"But it's not too late. It just means letting those bastards live a little longer."
Imagining herself punching Schicksal and kicking Anti-Entropy after regaining her power, a smile spread across her lips, her eyes filled with pride.
"I truly am a genius. There's no way the people from Schicksal could ever discover my identity."
But just as she was smugly patting herself on the back...
Suddenly, a voice came from behind her.
"Excuse me, are you Miss Herrscher of the Void?"
Sirin's face froze.
She whipped her head around and saw that, at some point, a figure had appeared behind her.
It was a very handsome boy, currently smiling and sizing her up.
It was Luo Li.
"Pardon me, but are you the Herrscher of the Void?"
Dammit, I've lost too much power. I didn't even notice someone approaching.
Sirin was instantly on high alert, her eyes locked on Luo Li, calculating her chances of victory.
A bit dangerous... I can take him, but it might cost me. Sirin calculated in her mind.
She didn't know if this person was from Schicksal or Anti-Entropy, but he knew her identity. To be safe, it was best to eliminate him.
Even if it meant using up all the energy she had painstakingly accumulated.
Her resolve hardening, Sirin's gaze grew dangerous, and a golden halo began to appear in her azure pupils.
Anyone who knows my identity must die! Sirin thought viciously.
But just as she was about to make her move, she saw Luo Li raise his hands.
"Let's be clear, I surrender."
Before she could react, she saw Luo Li look at her with a completely serious expression and declare:
"Down with human tyranny, the world belongs to the Honkai!"
"???"
Sirin's face went blank. This turn of events was not what she had expected.
Then, she voiced her confusion.
"Huh?"