Am I going to die? The girl's figure plummeted from the rooftop, falling endlessly through the air. In that moment, time and thought seemed to grind to a halt.
Mei Senpai! As her rain-soaked, freezing body fell, a pair of strong arms suddenly wrapped around her, pulling her icy form into a warm embrace.
That's Kiana's voice, the mind's owner thought.
Kiana's voice...?! No... no! The once-calm thoughts began to unravel into chaos. Their owner struggled to break free, but the arms held her tightly in that warm embrace, plunging downward... falling continuously into the Abyss.
Coward... Raiden Mei, you coward, the mind roared in the formless space, sobbing as it allowed itself to plummet.
Indeed, you are a worthless coward. So, why not just surrender your body to me? I possess the strength you lack, the confidence you crave, and most importantly—I am far braver and utterly fearless. An icy, arrogant voice echoed through the void. It was the Herrscher Consciousness.
...More courageous than I am.
Yes, I am more courageous than you... more fearless... Sensing victory was imminent, the Herrscher Consciousness lowered its arrogant tone, speaking softly.
This is fine... Kiana...
Hehehe... HAHAHAHA— Raiden Mei's consciousness sank completely into slumber, leaving only the Third Herrscher's consciousness to erupt into manic laughter within the mental space.
The thunderstorm gathered anew in the sky, its muffled thunder reverberating through the thick clouds. The once-peaceful coastal residential area would once again transform into the epicenter of a storm and a battlefield of carnage by the dawn of the next day.
Kneeling amidst the ruins, the "Raiden Mei" opened her eyes. An eerie purple filled her pupils, and ominous lightning crackled across her body. Purple lightning carefully skirted the white-haired girl she held in her arms, gathering behind the Herrscher to form wings.
Then, her arrogant purple eyes turned toward the center of the street, where her companions were entangled with several Templar-class Honkai Beasts.
Multiple lightning spears began to coalesce before the Herrscher—
-
"A swarm of troublesome insects." Her azure eyes darkened with anger as her carefully laid plans, which had been meticulously checked for safety, were thwarted by a Templar-class Honkai Beast that had inexplicably appeared from nowhere. Her previously calm and composed expression crumbled, replaced by a grim, icy glare.
Kiana, as expected, took a blade for Raiden Mei... When we last checked this area last night, the nearest large Honkai Beast was at least a kilometer away... What is this? Human plans are no match for fate?
Dodging a thrust from the giant beast's spear, she grabbed Kyuusyou, who was beside her, firing a shotgun (what the hell is this sensitive word) at the white-purple Honkai Beast. Kyuusyou leaped into the air, evading another Templar-class spear strike.
"Bronya! Take Kyuusyou and check on Kiana and Mei! I'll hold them off here. Go now!" Swiftly suppressing her anger and frustration, the golden-haired Valkyrie barked orders at her companions, directing them toward the two most vulnerable members of their team.
Bronya and Kyuusyou nodded in acknowledgment. Kyuusyou hopped onto Project Bunny's arm, and Bronya propelled them both toward Kiana and Mei at high speed.
Snow twisted her head and leaped back into the fray, engaging the three Templar-class Honkai Beasts once more.
Then, the sudden transformation struck—
A storm gathered overhead, and deafening thunder rumbled anew, echoing the chaos that had engulfed Senba Academy days before.
"What?!" Snow's face paled as the environment shifted dramatically. Her gaze darted toward the direction Bronya and Kyuusyou had taken—the same area where the temporary squad had first encountered the Templar-class Honkai Beasts, and where Kiana and Mei were now.
There, suspended in mid-air, hovered a black-haired girl wreathed in crackling lightning. Behind her, twin purple wings of condensed Honkai energy shimmered. Her haughty gaze swept over everything before her with disdain.
Four thunder spears, charged to their limit, streaked toward the district. They pierced the Templar-class Honkai Beasts' shields, tore through their hardened silicon bodies, and shattered their Cores. But—true to her word—these were merely four spears of thunder.
The blinding radiance of lightning expanded in Snow's pupils, then exploded.
Anger, disbelief, shock—a maelstrom of emotions flashed across her azure eyes, ultimately coalescing into—
Fury.
This fury was etched into her bloodline, the very essence of her soul—an arrogance and hubris that, no matter how carefully concealed or feigned, now blazed forth unchecked.
Mere... insects scurrying beneath the tree—!!!
-
"Hmph—"
The Herrscher of Thunder shifted her gaze from the street. The dust and smoke kicked up by the explosions of four lightning spears completely obscured everyone's vision, but there was no doubt that, when the dust settled, nothing would remain.
No one can withstand the Divine Punishment personally unleashed by a god, the Third Herrscher thought, turning her attention back to the unconscious white-haired girl in her arms.
A gruesome wound slashed across the girl's back, stretching from her right shoulder down to the left side of her waist. Blood had soaked her once-snow-white uniform, staining it a dark crimson.
"To get hurt protecting that coward... How pathetic, Kiana!"
"Wake up now! I won't let you die so easily! Only I have the right to take your life!"
The Herrscher's monologue, spoken mid-air, vanished into the wind, unheard by anyone below. Then the Apostle of the Divine lifted her head and gazed skyward.
The Hyperion, an aerial warship belonging to Schicksal's Far East Branch, had arrived on the battlefield, bringing a new glimmer of hope to this seemingly hopeless situation.
"This is the Herrscher? I thought it would be something more terrifying—with tentacles or dripping with slime," a red-haired woman on the warship's bridge scoffed, watching the captured image of the girl Herrscher on the screen.
"Miss Himeko, your imagination when you're horny is truly terrifying," her adjutant trembled beside her, adjusting her glasses.
"Then you lot shouldn't bother me during my date!"
The brief exchange drew smiles from the bridge crew, subtly easing the tension and anxiety that had gripped them since the Herrscher's emergence.
Seeing the Valkyries gradually regain their composure, Murata Himeko issued the battle order.
"All units, lock all gunports! Suppression operation begins!" The massive warship's turrets began to rotate, their cold, hidden muzzles extending from their hatches—a menacing array of dark muzzles, large and small, now trained on the Third Herrscher below.
Targeted by countless cannons, the Herrscher merely cast an irritated glance at the Hyperion. Purple electricity began to coalesce around her once more.
"Annoying insect! Who authorized you to stand above me?!"
A massive torrent of thunder, accompanied by blinding white light, engulfed the entire Hyperion, obscuring everyone's vision.
"Activate full defensive barriers, now!" Murata Himeko's voice rang out across the bridge, jolting the Valkyries out of their terror-induced paralysis.
"Vanish—" The Herrscher's lips curled into a cruel, delighted smile.
The shields activated just in time, the thick barrier blocking the torrent. In the next instant, the shield shattered, but the unstoppable torrent tore through the Hyperion's thick external armor, leaving a massive crater on the ship's hull. Smoke and flames erupted from within.
"Warning! Hyperion's external armor has sustained critical damage!"
"Warning! Reactor output has dropped by 40%. Immediate return to base is advised!"
Ear-splitting alarms blared throughout the warship, shredding Major Himeko's thoughts.
"Major Himeko, at this rate, the Hyperion won't survive the Herrscher's next attack," the young adjutant warned, standing beside the red-haired woman.
"Tch, that damned brat! Does she even realize how much it costs to repair this warship?" Murata Himeko gritted her teeth and spat softly, her resolve hardening as she strode toward the Valkyrie Battlesuit maintenance bay aboard the Hyperion.
"Activate Fusion Reactors 5 and 6! Maintain reactor output and switch the warship's power to backup energy! Lower the warship to the Herrscher's altitude in two minutes!" The woman barked orders from the bridge, tearing off her cumbersome formal dress and flinging it to the floor.
"Wait! You're not planning to use that, are you?" The adjutant, his face tightening with anxiety, glanced at Himeko.
"There's no time to hesitate or consider alternatives now," Himeko retorted, shedding her remaining unnecessary ornaments and flinging them aside.
"But... the Council's orders were to capture the Herrscher alive!"
"It's too late for that now. Besides, I'm the kind of woman who sees things through to the end once I've stripped down to my armor!"
"Command of the battleship is temporarily transferred to you. Now, execute the orders! My adjutant!" Murata Himeko stepped onto the Valkyrie Battlesuit's donning platform. Mechanical arms whirred, maneuvering the armor pieces into place, fitting them snugly around her body.
"Yes, Major Himeko!" The adjutant snapped to attention, saluted the red-haired woman, and sprinted off to take command of the warship, issuing subsequent orders.
"Backup energy systems activated!"
"Descending to Herrscher altitude!"
Various commands echoed across the bridge of the Hyperion. The highly trained Valkyries, after a brief moment of shock, quickly regained their composure and executed the orders with methodical precision.
-
The Third Herrscher gazed haughtily at the massive warship before her but did not launch another attack. Instead, she hovered in the air, calmly awaiting the Hyperion's descent.
The red-haired Valkyrie, clad in her Valkyrie Battlesuit, stood on the deck of the airborne warship, her sword held in one hand as she locked eyes with the Herrscher of Thunder.
"Is this your final, pathetic struggle, insects?" the Herrscher sneered at the red-haired Valkyrie on the deck, raising her right hand as lightning began to gather once more.
"Insolent vermin, daring to brandish your blades against the Apostle of the Divine! Be reduced to ashes before me and atone with your death!"
Another torrent of thunderous lightning surged across the skies of Nagazora City.
Nexus System activated.
Energy flowed continuously from the warship's fusion reactor engine into the Valkyrie Battlesuit, finally coalescing into the Red-haired Valkyrie's Great Sword.
"Sorry, brat," the Valkyrie growled, brandishing her blade. "I won't kick the bucket until I find a decent man!" With a sweeping slash, she split the blinding white torrent of energy in two.
-
As the battle in the sky reached its climax, the two figures on the ground were far from idle. Kyuusyou and Bronya searched for their missing comrade amidst the dissipating smoke, their path strewn with the shattered remains of Templar-class Honkai Beasts, pierced and blasted apart by thunder spears.
"Gulp... Snow wouldn't..." Kyuusyou swallowed hard, her eyes sweeping over the grisly scene.
"Project Bunny detects an unknown energy signature directly ahead," Bronya's voice cut through Kyuusyou's spiraling thoughts.
Their path was blocked by a collapsed residential building. Amidst the wreckage of steel and concrete, a golden-haired figure in white robes knelt, her right hand gripping a blood-red crystal-like longsword. Golden, tree-branch-like patterns coiled across the blade.
-
"Snow! Are you okay?" Kyuusyou, pulling Bronya along, scrambled up the towering ruins and asked anxiously, seeing their companion kneeling there.
"...I'm fine... I'm perfectly fine..." The girl gripped the sword hilt with her left hand, black and gold patterns spreading from her hands up her arms, eventually coiling around her snow-white neck.
"Gulp... This line is making me nervous..." Houraiji Kyuusyou swallowed hard again, nervously eyeing the golden-haired girl before being scooped up by Project Bunny again.
"Miss Snow's condition is highly unstable. Kyuusyou, please keep your distance for now," Bronya instructed, her normally flat tone betraying a rare hint of urgency as Project Bunny retreated at high speed.
"—Alright. It feels like I'm not myself..." Snow paid no attention to her rapidly departing companions. She stood up, brushed off the dust, and gazed skyward with deep blue eyes at the Hyperion, locked in fierce combat with the Herrscher.
-
"You're not completely useless, vermin," the Herrscher's arrogant voice boomed across the silent, lifeless city. "But... I'm growing weary of this. Vanish completely!"
Hearing the Herrscher's arrogant declaration from the sky, the blonde girl on the ruins curled her lips into a malicious smile. She lifted her leg, took a step, and in the next instant, appeared on the deck of the Hyperion.
"Hello there, little Herrscher. Or should I say... insect?" The third party, who had suddenly appeared on the deck, turned to face the Apostle of the Divine. A malevolent smile stretched across her face, but her deep, glacial-blue eyes held only brewing disdainful arrogance.
"You! Who allowed you to look at me with such eyes?! You filthy trash!" An even more violent torrent of energy began to gather before the Herrscher of Thunder. Snow's arrogant, contemptuous gaze had undoubtedly struck a nerve in the Herrscher's fragile psyche.
"Yes... filthy trash." The blonde girl's azure eyes turned utterly cold, her voice devoid of malice, replaced only by mockery. Then... she erupted.
"Who gave you the audacity... to wield your pathetic authority in the Monarch's realm?! You... worm that festers beneath the tree!!!" The crystal-like longsword plunged into the deck, boundless crimson blood spreading across everything around it, golden branches and buds blossoming wildly amidst the crimson tide.
The scarlet blood covered the deck, shrouded the land of Nagazora City, and silenced the storm-ravaged sky. The heavens were replaced by an eerie reflection of a purple-red starry sky, golden veins weaving across its expanse to form a colossal, sky-piercing tree.
Gathering lightning was extinguished in an instant by an invisible, overwhelming force. The exalted Herrscher, who had soared above the world, plummeted from the sky the moment the starry firmament enveloped the world, crashing heavily onto the deck of the aerial warship.
The Monarch of the Realm, still grasping the sword embedded in the deck, strode toward the fallen Herrscher, the blade leaving glaring, deep gouges across the deck with each step. Murata Himeko, watching the sword's trail, opened her mouth to speak, glanced at the world bathed in red and gold, and finally closed her lips.
"Sinner, you... must die!" With that decree, the blood-red longsword was raised. Beneath its blade lay the Third Herrscher, unconscious once more. This time, however, Snow seemed determined not to spare her.
The sword swung down, halting just before the white-haired girl's forehead. Having awakened at an unknown moment, the girl stood defiantly between her companion and the blade, her stubborn azure eyes locked onto the golden-haired girl's unfathomable, deep blue pupils, refusing to yield even an inch.
"Step aside!" the golden-haired girl commanded.
"I won't!" the white-haired girl retorted, stubbornly shielding the Third Herrscher with her body, blocking the sword's descent.
A deathly silence descended, freezing the scene in a tense stalemate.
"Um, I just wanted to say..." the red-haired Valkyrie ventured, attempting to break the impasse.
"Silence! You have no right to speak here!" The golden-haired girl's thunderous voice reverberated across the city, cutting off Murata Himeko's words in her throat. Her face turned livid as she glared at the three figures locked in a tense standoff. She seemed to be calculating whether unleashing a devastating blow on these unfortunate girls at this moment would be worth the effort.
The two remained locked in a stalemate... As time stretched on, the girl wielding the longsword finally relented.
"...You'd better have made the right choice. You'd better—" Her deep, indigo eyes cast one last, piercing glance at the stubborn girl before them, then reverted to their original cerulean blue. The celestial canopy, woven from starlight and the golden Great Tree, shattered in the next instant. The crimson blade in her hand dissolved into nothingness, and the golden-haired girl collapsed forward as if her support had vanished.
The white-haired girl instinctively reached out to catch her falling companion.
She's so light... and kind of soft? Kiana thought.
Everything in this world comes at a price, a truth the young, white-haired girl had yet to grasp.
The price for standing as a Monarch, towering above even the Apostles of the Divine—what that cost truly entailed, only the girl lying in her arms knew.
-
Mini-Theater Time
Next, let's interview Mr. Kevin, the noodle-loving elder brother, to get his thoughts on Raiden Mei becoming a Herrscher.
Kevin:Slurp, slurp. She can't win. She's just not up for this position, you understand? The Honkai itself has a say in this. Look at the people she used to lead—a bunch of warriors who moved in a flash. You can't just throw a high school student into the fray and expect her to fight. She can't! If this keeps up, she'll lose to Kiana (Paramecium), then to Bronya, then to the Honkai Beasts. After that, there'll be nothing left to lose, you know?
Kyuusyou: But in a way, Mei was the first to prepare for the Herrscher version.
Kevin:Slurp, slurp. Oh, thank heaven for that.