(Switching from first to third PoV.)
Following the guidance of a prayer that echoed across time and space, Ray sent a wisp of his consciousness to descend upon a World Bubble.
What greeted him was a scarred wasteland, battered as though some great disaster had just swept through. Yet it was far from over—several burning objects still fell from the sky, threatening to finish what devastation had begun.
But Ray paid them no mind. His focus was on the voice that had called out to him.
"…This—my mother-in-law? And… the puffer fish?"
He froze, startled by the sight before him. Two figures lay at the brink of death, yet smiling faintly as if resigned to their final moments.
To his surprise, the prayer had not come from the one he expected—the so-called puffer fish, Sirin. Instead, it was Cecilia, who cradled the purple haired girl tenderly in her arms.
Sirin's condition was dire. The Herrscher Core—her very heart—had shattered, and the rampaging Honkai energy had triggered a deadly cascade of radiation. Cecilia, in her desperation, had burned nearly every drop of her Schariac Holy Blood to purify the outbreak. Then she had also given everything else to the God-Key, Black Abyss White Flower to shield Siegfried from the incoming Honkai fission missiles Otto had launched to erase Sirin completely.
Now both Cecilia and Sirin stood at death's door, victims of a tragedy that would shape the future of this world.
But Ray, a fan who had watched this story unfold countless times, had no desire to let it play out again. Not this time.
At this moment, he had a reason greater than mere curiosity or thrill to intervene.
Without hesitation, he pulled Cecilia Schariac and Sirin into his inner world.
---
Cecilia's Perspective.
Moments ago, Cecilia had been kneeling on the scorched Siberian tundra, Sirin clasped tightly in her arms. She had smiled through the pain, bracing herself for the fiery impact of the descending missiles.
Then, in the blink of an eye, everything changed.
When her vision cleared, she found herself in a fog-shrouded realm beneath a sky devoid of moon or stars.
"…Where am I? Sirin? Ziggy?"
Her voice echoed into the mist, swallowed whole by the endless void.
But then the fog stirred.
Before her, countless scenes began to play across its shifting surface. At first, she could not understand what she was seeing. But as familiar faces flickered in and out, realization struck her like a blade.
These were glimpses of the future.
"…Is this what the Lord wishes me to see before my death? The outcome of my choices?"
With dread, Cecilia watched Otto's shadow loom over every scene. She saw how he twisted Sirin's tragedy to fuel his schemes. She saw her own child stolen away and raised in captivity and brainwashed. Siegfried, desperate, breaking into Schicksal only to rescue a false hope—K-423—while his true daughter remained caged. She saw Kiana's suffering, Bianka's burdens, Siegfried's lonely and desperate fight to protect his only families.
Each vision cut deeper than the last. Eventually, the pain became unbearable. She averted her eyes, tears streaming down her face.
As a mother, wife, and Valkyrie, this future was too cruel. She wished for nothing more than the power to protect the ones she loved from it.
Not vengeance. Not Otto's death. Only salvation for her family and comrades.
It was then that a cold, emotionless voice echoed within her mind. Despite its inhuman tone, Cecilia felt a faint trace of sympathy woven into it.
"Do you wish for the power to change their future? Even if the price is your own existence?"
Cecilia stiffened. "What are you?"
She knew much about the world, more than most Valkyries. She feared this might be the Honkai itself, tempting her into becoming its apostle.
But before she could voice her doubts, the voice answered.
"An apostle? In a sense, yes. But I am not from Honkai. I am a god—but not of your reality. I exist beyond the Imaginary Tree. And I am… interested in you."
As it spoke, the fog parted to reveal a vision. She saw her world suspended on the branches of the Imaginary Tree, adrift above the Sea of Quanta. And beyond, in a kaleidoscopic expanse, she glimpsed an unfathomable being. It held the fragile bubble of her reality as though it were nothing more than a toy balanced on a finger.
The sight drove her to her knees. Her mind buckled under the weight of paradoxes and concepts beyond mortal comprehension. The entity's form shifted endlessly—constant, yet never the same.
After some time, she regained her senses. But the silence and subtle sensation of being looked at made Cecilia feel the being radiated guilt. Or perhaps that was merely her intuition as a woman and as a mother.
Ignoring those thoughts, she asked for clarity, and the offer was laid bare.
"I will grant you the power to fulfill your wish. In return, your existence shall be mine. From this moment, you will serve as my Apostle—my Priestess—for all eternity."
No twisted rituals. No grotesque sacrifices. Only eternal service, with strength and immortality bestowed in return.
To Cecilia, who would have readily given her soul to save her family, the choice was clear.
"I accept."
"Good. Then our pact is sealed." The voice answered, sounding a little too eager.
Then, a dark scroll appeared before her, covered in blood-red runes that writhed and shifted like living things. Though incomprehensible at a glance, Cecilia understood every word. The content was the verbal agreement between them and a name, Rayven Ashe, was signed at the bottom, alongside a blank space waiting for her mark.
She took the feathered pen, its nib dripping with crimson ink like fresh blood, and signed.
The contract burst into black flame, vanishing without a trace. A searing pain burned against her throat as runes etched themselves into her flesh, forming the shape of a choker. This kind of pain is nothing for Cecilia who had sustained much more severe pain than mere burn.
When the fire faded, the runes dimmed to faint black lines.
The change was instant.
Cecilia knew her body well—every muscle, every scar from her years as a Valkyrie. She felt her strength surge beyond all reason, as if a mere punch could shatter a mountain and carve out valleys. Her vitality, once sustained by Schariac Holy Blood, now flowed endlessly.
And then there was this new energy. It felt like Honkai energy, yet infinitely deeper like an ocean compared to a stream.
"Yes. You understand it already. As my Apostle, you may freely draw strength from mine. Now, go. You have one hour to set things right." The voice urged.
Cecilia clenched her fist, testing her newfound strength, before raising her head toward the fog where her god and master resided.
"My lord… there is one more thing I must ask of you."
Her voice trembled with hesitation, but not fear.
Though cunning and perceptive, Cecilia had no thought of breaking her pact. Not out of terror, but because she was too kind. She had gained what she sought, and in her heart, she resolved to repay the gift with genuine loyalty.
Instead, she was worried about someone else. Sirin, who she had come to consider as her own daughter in the illusion cast by Fenghuang Down.
"That puffer fish? Don't worry, I am making another contract with her too." The voice replied casually and sent her back to reality. "Go deal with your problem first, those bombs are about to land."
"Puffer fish?" Cecilia is surprised by this strange yet fitting nickname as she already guessed who this 'Puffer Fish' is and chuckled.
With no worries left, Cecilia took a deep breath before exhaling while the foggy realm vanished as it shattered into broken fragments of glass and she returned to the battlefield in Siberia.
Simply extending her right arm out, Abyss Flower immediately flew into her hand while Cecilia briefly looked at the shocked Siegfried and then the still unconscious Sirin lying next to her.
"Don't worry, I will definitely save everyone." She said before her foot was tensed like a compressed spring, tilted up.
A small crater formed on the ground as she took off and flew high into the sky towards the incoming missiles and prayed solemnly.
"Lend me your strength, O' Lord."
With the Abyss Flower held before her chest and the tip facing the sky, she closed her eyes and channelled all the power she could muster.
"Black Abyss and White Flower, Zeroth Power!"
Instantly power surged and two different coloured energy exploded out from the lance in her grip.
Golden white energy from White Flower transformed into a gigantic tree made of energy with wide protective branches and leaves spread all across the sky of Siberia, creating a massive Honkai neutralising field.
Meanwhile, the dark energy from Black Abyss transformed into maws that devoured the Honkai Fission missiles before they exploded and created a second sun that would have scorched the entire Siberia if not for the gigantic tree's protection.
The tree construct directly shielded the people below from the intense Honkai Radiation that would normally be extremely lethal even for a Valkyrie. Then the lingering fallout of the explosion is absorbed by the leaves of the massive tree until nothing is left.
Cecilia heaved a sigh of relief that everything ended up well without any casualties thanks to her Lord's assistance.
Still with more time to spare before the one hour duration runs out, Cecilia intended to properly explain everything to Siegfried and lay down instructions about the future from what she had seen from the fog.
After all, she is someone who is meant to die and simply lived on borrowed life. She had no illusion that she could continue living with her family in the future.
———
Meanwhile, with Otto.
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible."
He had seen Cecilia's state with his own eyes. A Valkyrie at the end of her rope—her Schariac blood exhausted, her strength completely spent. And yet… what stood before him was something even greater than her prime.
He wanted to attribute it to God Himself, but the short audience he had once had with divinity told him otherwise. The true God would never intervene on behalf of someone like Cecilia.
"Then who could have done this?" Otto whispered, his eyes narrowing.
"Found you."
That voice—so familiar. Otto spun on his heel, and his breath caught.
"Sirin? Herrscher of the Void?"
She should have been dying, her Herrscher Core shattered, her heart pierced. Yet there was no wound—no blood. No trace of weakness.
Otto reached for the Void Archive, ready to mimic a God Key—but too late. A Sub-Space lance cleaved through his arm, severing it at the shoulder. The pain lanced through him, but the stump was already knitting, flesh and bone reforming almost instantly.
Sirin's eyes burned.
"You will pay for everything."
She advanced, her attacks raining down with relentless fury. Otto staggered beneath the storm, each strike tearing him apart, each wound closing as soon as it opened. He barely fought back at all, his gaze searching, calculating.
Through the agony, his voice slipped out, steady as ever.
"Tell me—who grants you this strength? Who aids you and Cecilia?"
Sirin froze for an instant, then let out a low, vicious laugh.
"You're still obsessed with your little secrets." She tilted her head, her tone turning regal and cold. "What you truly want… is to bring Kallen back, isn't it?"
Otto's composure cracked. Hope—raw, desperate—flared in his eyes.
"Yes. Everything I've done… every sacrifice, every sin—I would give anything for her."
Sirin's smirk widened, cruel and mocking.
"Indeed, that cree— Grrr!" Her speech suddenly halted as she cast her annoyance at someone but immediately stopped as fear suddenly crept up her face and her body shuddered.
With a light cough, she returned to her queenly pose and cast her disdainful glance at Otto.
"My Lord Father could do it… but he refuses to help someone like you." She said proudly with both arms crossed on her chest as if saying, go ahead and ask me why.
Naturally, Otto pick up the cue and asked ahead.
"Why?"
Sirin smirked and answered. "First. You're old. Like five centuries past your prime."
Otto couldn't help but frown with his brow twitching.
Indeed, he is old. But… that couldn't be the only reason right?
"Also, you are not beautiful a beautiful lady like Cecilia or cute… like me. Totally not worthy of his effort at all." Sirin added as if reading his thoughts and enjoy the satisfaction of tearing this clown's mask.
Otto stiffened as though struck through the heart. His lips parted, but no words came because he indeed couldn't deny those words. However, he couldn't help but ask if the gods have such double standards.
After all, Otto have record of the Previous Era and he could certainly say most if not all choosen Herrscher are always female with exceptional beauty.
Sirin's voice pressed on, sharpened like a blade to tore him off his sidetracked thoughts.
"Besides, you call yourself a villain? Then face it—you built your empire on suffering, and yet you expect mercy. That is your true hypocrisy."
Otto's face twisted—half fury, half despair.
Sirin leaned closer, her eyes glinting.
"With this hunger of yours… to see your goal within grasp but forever slips from your grasp… That will be the curse I left for you. And it will torment you more than any pain I could ever inflict."
Her words cut deeper than her lances ever could and Otto's silence told her she had struck true.
Without bother to linger for a moment longer, she opened a portal and vanished before Otto could reach out to stop her.
Indeed as Sirin said. For Otto who perseverance lasted over five centuries for a singular goal, to grasp the fulfillment of his goal but for it to slip away, hurt harder than physical pain could inflict. It's like his soul slowly being wrung and torn apart.
—————