Zero
"Come on then!"
Zero's roar was the starting gun.
The street erupted into chaos. Red lightning clashed against the combined might of St. Freya's finest.
Kiana opened fire, her pistols blazing as she strafed to the left, the muzzle flashes lighting up the night.
Mei surged forward, a streak of violet thunder, while Wendy took to the air, pulling the debris of the ruined street into a swirling vortex to create a perimeter.
Himeko didn't join the initial charge. She knelt beside the wreckage of the bus, checking on the battered form of the Class Monitor.
"Fu Hua," Himeko barked, checking the girl's pulse. "Can you move? We need to get you out of the crossfire."
Fu Hua leaned against the crumpled metal, her breathing shallow. She shook her head, her gaze locked on the battle unfolding in the center of the street.
Even battered and broken, her eyes were analyzing the fight with terrifying precision.
"Don't worry about me. Just… give me a moment to recover." Fu Hua rasped, clutching her fractured side. "Listen to me, Himeko. You can't fight him like a normal opponent."
"Yeah, I gathered that when he tackled you with enough force to get to the surface," Himeko grimaced, watching Zero weave through a net of golden chains from Judah with impossible, jerky movements. "He's a lot stronger and faster than Kenji."
"It's not just that," Fu Hua corrected urgently, grabbing Himeko's wrist with a trembling hand. "His ability is called Gearshift."
She took a sharp breath, wincing in pain.
"He can change the speed of anything he touches—including himself—instantly. There are no visible drawbacks. No sudden buildup and no recoil."
Fu Hua looked Himeko dead in the eye.
"If he touches you, he can make you stop. Or he can make you fly into a wall at accelerated speed. I don't know what Gearshift's limits are, so don't let him touch you."
Himeko's expression darkened. "Understood."
She tapped her earpiece. "Please work…" she muttered, before the static that had plagued them underground was gone.
"Theresa, do you copy? I have intel from Fu Hua."
"I hear you, Himeko," Theresa's voice crackled back, strained but clear. "He's slippery! I'm having trouble grabbing him because his movements are so weird!"
"Listen closely, everyone!" Himeko relayed, "Fu Hua says his ability is called Gearshift. He can change the speed of anything he touches instantly. Keep your distance and don't let him touch you!"
Too bad for her, those words were also heard by Zero, who smiled wider, as everyone now knows about Gearshift.
While he did consider running away, it would still be a pain when they inevitably located him again. And he didn't want to deal with Theresa when she had access to all her toys.
Breaking them now would give him more time to ensure his control… Even if he wasn't showing it, he was slightly worried.
With all the bravado he was putting on, he was much weaker than he should be. Sinking Kenji had destabilized the body, making it possible for the vestiges to act.
'Even if I cut out the pink one's connection, I can never be too cautious… She was Origin, after all.'
But he had another plan.
Having two Herrschers in close proximity, emitting a lot of Honkai Energy, would accelerate his recovery. Erasing any possibility of Kenji intervening or the vestiges interfering.
Across the battlefield, Theresa narrowed her eyes. She stood behind the Oath of Judah, acting as the anchor for the team.
"Understood," Theresa looked at Kiana, who was reloading her pistols while dodging a piece of debris Zero had flung at her like a bullet.
"Kiana! Looks like we're gonna have to use the Special Rounds!"
Kiana nodded, holstering her standard guns and reaching for the heavier, distinctively marked magazines on her belt.
With a reluctant look on her face, she loaded her weapon. "On it!"
Theresa switched channels. "Wendy, Mei! Give her an opening!"
"With pleasure!" Wendy shouted from the sky.
For the first time since the mission began, the Wind Herrscher was in her element. Underground, the cramped corridors and low ceilings had stifled her. But here, under the open night sky, she was untethered.
Wendy spread her arms. The winds howled in obedience.
"Let's see you dodge this!"
She didn't aim a single blast. She turned the atmosphere itself into a weapon.
Tornadoes dropped from the clouds, tearing up the asphalt. Vacuum spheres materialized around Zero's feet, sucking the air from his lungs.
Wind blades, sharp enough to tear through buildings, rained down like a meteor shower.
Zero, who had been lazily dodging Kiana's gunfire, suddenly found his footing compromised.
The wind was ripping away the ground beneath him. The debris around him was sucked up into the sky.
"Annoying!" Zero snarled, shielding his face as the winds battered him.
He tried to step forward, but a sudden updraft threw him off balance. He stumbled, and a wind blade grazed his cheek, drawing a thin line of blood.
He looked up at Wendy, his red eyes burning with irritation.
"You like flying?" Zero shouted over the roar of the gale. He stomped the ground and launched himself into the sky like a missile.
He bypassed the tornadoes entirely, using Float to make him shoot straight for Wendy.
"Got you!" Zero laughed, reaching out to grab her ankle.
A violet blur slammed into him mid-air.
Mei intercepted him.
She caught Zero in the air, driving her katana deep into his shoulder. The momentum carried them both out of the sky, tangling them in a mess of lightning and red sparks.
"Keep your hands off her!" Mei yelled.
"You brat!" Zero grunted.
They crashed into the street, rolling apart. Mei recovered instantly, kicking off a piece of rubble to launch herself back into the fray.
Wendy didn't waste the setup. She slammed her hands down, and a high-pressure column of air crushed Zero into the crater he had just made.
"Stay.Down!" Wendy roared.
The pavement groaned. Zero was pinned by the invisible weight of the wind.
But then, the red lightning flared. Zero's body vibrated, blurring at the edges.
He twisted his body, defying the pressure, and slid out from under the wind column. He popped back to his feet, but Mei was already there.
The duel that followed was a blur of steel and flesh. Zero met her slashes head on with his fists, the cuts regenerating almost instantly.
Mei unleashed her attacks, her blade moving faster than the eye could track. She wasn't giving him a millisecond to breathe, forcing him to rely on Danger Sense heavily.
Zero smirked when he saw the horns on her head.
She was tapping into more of the Herrscher power to try to overwhelm him. Releasing more Honkai Energy that only served to nourish him.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
Sparks flew as flesh met reinforced steel.
Zero swiped a slash with his hand and aimed a punch at Mei's head. She dodged under, letting go of her sword to land a kick that sent him flying backwards.
She grabbed her blade out of the air and rushed in.
Zero smirked. He kicked off the ground, sending him flying into the sky.
Mei saw him reposition himself and realized he was going to launch himself at her. She prepared to counter, but with a blue glow, he was suddenly in front of her.
He had used Gearshift to blitz directly in front of her face. She pushed her katana to stab him, but he accelerated his hand forward to catch the hilt.
His fingers clamped around Mei's hand, stopping the blade inches from his chest.
The sudden stop jarred Mei's arm all the way to her shoulder. She looked up, startled. He had touched her.
Zero leaned in, their faces inches apart. The chaotic red lightning reflected in Mei's violet eyes. He wasn't sneering anymore.
His expression softened into a look of mock pride, a terrifying imitation of the boy she knew.
"You're really fast..." Zero whispered, his voice dropping the harsh grit and adopting a warm, gentle tone.
"...Mei-Sensei."
Mei froze.
For a split second, the red eyes vanished, and she saw the clumsy boy in the dojo, rubbing the back of his head after she had disarmed him, calling her Sensei to annoy her.
The hesitation was all Zero needed.
The warmth vanished from his eyes, replaced instantly by predatory glee.
Zero released her sword and clenched his fist. The air distorted around his knuckles as he accelerated a punch directly toward her exposed face.
/ — /
Zero
A split second before Zero's fist could shatter Mei's face, a razor-sharp vacuum blade sliced the air between them.
"Back off!" Wendy screamed.
Zero flinched, his danger sense warning him. He jerked his hand back just as the invisible wind blade cut a deep gash into the asphalt where his arm had been.
"You're one annoying pest!" He shouted.
The interruption gave Mei the window she needed to escape.
She rolled backward, her katana sparking against the pavement, putting precious meters between herself and the monster wearing Kenji's face.
Zero clicked his tongue, annoyed. 'Looks like giving away Gearshift was a good call. They're too focused on avoiding it that they won't be prepared for any other quirk.'
He turned his gaze toward Wendy, ready to punish the Wind Herrscher for interfering again.
But he didn't get the chance.
"Hey! Eyes on me, copycat!"
Kiana was already airborne.
Zero didn't even look impressed. He raised his left hand, his palm open, and caught her leg.
"Predictable," Zero scoffed.
Zero freezes her momentum in mid-air. He gripped her leg, his fingers digging into the reinforced sole of her battlesuit.
"You always jump straight into the fire," Zero taunted, his arm tensing as he prepared to activate Gearshift. "Let's see how well you fly when I accelerate you into the stratosph—!"
"Shut up will you?!" Kiana yelled.
Instead of retreating, she lunged forward, using his grip on her leg as an anchor. She twisted her body, wrapping her free leg around his neck and clamping her arms around his torso.
She locked onto him like a koala, pinning his right arm to his side with pure, hysterical strength.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Zero snarled, trying to pry her off. "Get… Off!"
"Not a chance!" Kiana shouted.
She jammed the muzzles of her pistols directly into his ribs, right beneath his armpit.
CLICK.
Zero's eyes widened as he heard the mechanical slide of the chamber.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Kiana unloaded the specialized magazines point-blank.
The rounds didn't exit his body. They buried themselves deep in his flesh with a dull, wet thudding sound.
There was no explosion, no flash of energy—just the heavy impact of metal piercing meat.
"Gah!" Zero coughed, his body jerking violently with each shot.
He tried to rib her off, but Mei rushed in, forcing him to grab her blade with both of his hands.
As soon as the magazines clicked empty, Kiana released her grapple. She kicked off his chest with both feet, backflipping away as Mei also got some distance.
Zero stumbled, clutching his side.
"Did you just fucking mag dump me?!" Zero shouted, a genuine exasperated expression on his face.
He straightened up, expecting the wounds to close. He waited for the familiar itch of his regeneration factor to push the foreign objects out.
But his regeneration was slow.
Zero's smile vanished.
His hand went to his ribs. He looked at his fingers; they were coated in blood that looked darker than usual.
The wounds were closing, but far more slowly than before. In fact, the veins spreading out from the bullet holes were turning a sickly shade of grey.
A searing heat began to spread through his chest—not the heat of fire, but a chemical burn that felt like it was dissolving him from the inside out.
'It's melting my body?!'
With a guttural roar, Zero tore at his own flesh. He ripped a chunk of his body out, trying to tear off the infected flesh before it fully coursed through his body.
Blood poured onto the street, but the burning didn't stop. He clawed deeper, his nails scraping against his own ribs, frantic to remove the contamination.
"He's distracted!" Kiana screamed. "Now!"
"Going up!" Wendy announced.
The Wind Herrscher thrust her hands upward. The air pressure beneath Zero reversed instantly.
Zero, focused entirely on digging the metal out of his chest, couldn't anchor himself. A violent updraft caught him, lifting him into the air. He flailed, blood flying from his self-inflicted wounds, trying to find traction.
"Mei!" Wendy signaled.
Mei sheathed her katana for a fraction of a second, charging the blade with every volt of electricity she could generate.
A bolt of violet lightning, thick as a tree trunk, erupted from her blade. It screamed across the street, tearing up the asphalt as it traveled, and slammed into the suspended Zero.
Zero was blasted out of the sky. He flew backward, tearing through multiple buildings and tumbling across the pavement, skipping like a stone over water until he slammed into a pile of rubble near the intersection.
He lay there for a second, smoke rising from his jacket.
He tried to push himself up, his arms trembling. The grey veins on his chest were spreading, but he put more power into his regeneration.
What ever this poison was, it was stronger than anything he had ever felt before. Cocolia's experimentation didn't even come close.
'This is getting dangerous… Staying to fight is too risky, I need to get out of here.'
Zero readied Gearshift, Fa Jin, and Float. Preparing himself to blast away, but danger sense warned him of something else.
Theresa Apocalypse stood twenty meters away. The Oath of Judah was open, its golden interior glowing with a blinding brilliance.
Chains erupted from the divine cross. Dozens of them. They moved like living serpents made of gold, seeking their target with unerring precision.
Zero tried to dodge, but his body was still slow. The grey poison in his veins had dissolved most of his muscles, making him unable to dodge.
The first chain wrapped around his ankle. The second caught his wrist. The third, fourth, and fifth coiled around his torso, his neck, and his legs.
"Argh!" Zero yelled as the chains tightened.
They dragged him to the ground, forcing him to his knees. He struggled, pulling against the metal, expecting it to break like normal steel.
'What—My Honkai Energy?!'
Instead, he felt a draining sensation. The red lightning that wreathed his body began to dim, sucked into the golden links. The grey veins pulsated, and the red glow of his eyes faded to a dull ember.
"Oh, now that's interesting!" Zero shouted out, both in anger and amusement.
She clenched her fist, and the chains tightened, pinning him completely.
"Girls! Now!" Theresa ordered. "Knock him out!"
Kiana, Mei, and Wendy rushed forward. They raised their weapons, ready to deliver the final blow to break his consciousness and hopefully wake Kenji.
Zero watched them come. He looked at the chains draining his Honkai Energy. He looked at the Valkyries closing in. He felt the cold, chemical burn of the bullets in his chest.
He stopped struggling.
His head hung low, his messy hair shadowing his eyes.
"Heh..."
A low, vibrating laugh escaped his throat.
"Not bad!"
Theresa stopped. Her instincts screamed. "Get back!"
It was too late.
BOOM.
Theresa only had a split second to process the sight in front of her.
Massive, writhing tendrils of black energy burst from Zero's back. They didn't look like light or electricity; they looked like liquid shadows.
The tendrils whipped outward with explosive force. It shot out from him with so much power that it freed him from Judah's binds.
The tendrils shot out, slamming into all the Valkyries before they could react. They were blown off their feet, sent tumbling backward across the street, and into buildings.
Zero stood up slowly, cracking his neck.
The black tendrils waved behind him like the tails of a beast. The bullet wounds on his chest hissed and vanished, though its effects were still lingering.
"I underestimated you, Principal… Who knew you could be so cruel."
/ — /
Fu Hua
The dust cleared slowly, swirling around the silhouette standing in the center of the crater.
It wasn't a monster of slime or shadow. It was raw, crackling power.
Seven distinct tendrils of black energy writhed from Zero's back. They whipped through the air with the sound of cracking thunder, glowing with a jagged, unstable energy.
'Another ability?!'
"Blackwhip..." Zero muttered, flexing his shoulders as the tendrils lashed out, cutting through a nearby building.
Fu Hua expected him to get ready to fight again, but instead, he turned his head upward as he got into a jumping position.
Her eyes widened as she realized what he was going to do. "He's trying to run away!"
She quickly sent multiple low powered Ki barrage to get his attention. It worked, as he was forced to abandon his escape to dodge the attacks.
He turned his head just as Himeko charged through the debris. Fu Hua was moving beside her. Ignoring the screaming pain in her fractured ribs, she sprinted low to the ground, using the smoke as cover.
Zero sneered, the black tendrils behind him flaring up like the tails of a scorpion. "So persistent!"
Three tendrils shot toward Himeko, aiming to skewer her. Himeko batted them aside with the flat of her blade, while Fu Hua slipped underneath the guard, aiming a strike at his ribs.
Zero twisted his torso, dodging Fu Hua's strike, and sent a tendril whipping back to catch her. Fu Hua backflipped, barely avoiding the black lash that pulverized the building behind her.
'Those things are fast! And the sheer number of them makes their movements hard to predict. If I lost focus for even a second, I'm a goner.'
She was able to glimpse at Zero's eyes for a split second. His gaze, which was once filled with mockery and disdain, had now turned to hate.
'He's not playing around anymore and is actively trying to run away. If I get beaten again like before, he won't hesitate to finish me off.'
With that thought finished, she prepared herself to charge.
"Is that all you got!?" Himeko yelled, baiting him.
She stopped her charge and planted her feet. She raised the sword high above her head, the fusion cells glowing white-hot.
"Haaah!!!"
Himeko brought the massive blade down in a vertical cleave meant to split him in half.
Zero's eyes widened in sadistic glee at the powerful attack.
All seven tendrils shot upward. They wrapped around the blade of the Nexus sword, creating a net of black energy.
The impact shook the street. Himeko gritted her teeth, pushing down with all her strength, her muscles straining against the resistance.
Zero stood underneath the blade, his knees buckling slightly. The black tendrils were pulled taut, vibrating as they struggled to hold the massive weapon in place.
"You're strong, sensei! But—! Huh?" Zero grunted, his face turning confused. "Why is it so heavy?"
His hands moved to swipe her away. But Danger Sense warned him of another threat that was coming closer.
Fu Hua lunged at him in a messy tackle, slamming her shoulder into Zero's exposed midsection. She wrapped her arms around his waist, driving her legs into the pavement and pushing him backward.
The impact knocked the wind out of him. His concentration broke.
"Gah!" Zero snarled.
He didn't expect such a messy attack from her and tried to pry her off with his hands, digging deep gashes into her shoulders. He looked down, his eyes burning with rage, and prepared to crush her body.
"Eyes up, brat!"
With Zero's focus shifted to Fu Hua, the tension in the Blackwhip tendrils faltered. Himeko saw the hesitation. She roared, pouring her last reserves of stamina into her arms.
She drove the blade down.
SNAP.
The black tendrils couldn't hold the weight anymore. The Nexus sword sheared through the dark energy and slammed downward.
SHUNK.
The heavy steel bit deep into Zero's left shoulder, burying itself halfway to the hilt.
"ARGH!" Zero screamed.
He stumbled back, blood welling up around the blade. The Blackwhip tendrils flailed wildly, smashing into the ground in a tantrum of energy before dissipating into smoke.
Himeko yanked the blade free with a wet tear, stepping back to ready another strike. Fu Hua released his waist and scrambled away, prepared to strike his throat if he tried to pursue.
Zero clutched his shoulder, staggering. But his regeneration factor was already undoing all of her work.
He looked up at them. His eyes were wide, filled with rage, but Fu Hua could see it, the tiniest hint of confusion.
He blitzed in front of Himeko, who tried to jump back to dodge, but her body froze in place. The air distorted around his knuckles.
'He used Gearshift!'
He punched Himeko's chest plate point-blank.
BANG.
She flew backward through the air, crossing the width of the street in a second. She braced herself for the end, closing her eyes as she slammed into the brick wall.
Bricks exploded. Dust billowed out as Himeko crumpled to the ground amidst the rubble.
"Himeko!" Fu Hua cried out. Already rushing towards her.
Zero smirked, patting his now healed shoulder, "That should put her out—"
But then, the pile of bricks shifted.
Himeko groaned, pushing a slab of masonry off her legs. She coughed, clutching her chest plate.
She checked her ribs, expecting them to be pulverized. She checked her lungs, expecting them to be collapsed.
But she was fine.
Well, not really fine. The punch still hurt like hell, and she probably had a lot of internal bleeding, but it wasn't anywhere near what she was expecting.
"What the hell?" Himeko muttered, staring at her chest.
She looked up at Zero. Based on his previous attacks, that hit should have at least broken all her ribs. It should have accelerated her through the building and out the facility, not just into the wall.
Zero looked at his own hand. The red lightning flickered in and out. "Are they getting stronger… No… Am I getting weaker?"
Then, he scowled. "Stop getting in my way, you incessant brat!"
Himeko leaned against the broken wall, exchanging a glance with Fu Hua. "What's happening?"
Fu Hua narrowed her eyes on Zero. Her mind processed the fight back from the start.
Zero was able to completely overpower her, toy with her, and defeat her just a few moments ago. He should have been able to swipe away Himeko's attack without much issue.
Was he really getting weaker? But how could that be possible? He is a Herrscher and possesses absurdly fast regeneration abilities. Even Theresa's drugs could only do so much. The only way he could get weaker was if—
"He's losing control," Fu Hua realized aloud. She turned to the rest of the team regrouping behind them. "Everyone! Attack him now! Don't hold back!"
"Fu Hua?" Theresa called out.
"His output is dropping!" Fu Hua pointed at the enraged boy. "Kenji is holding him back from the inside! He can't use his full power!"
Zero's head snapped up. And for the first time since the start of this battle, they saw a flash of panic in his eyes.
He tried to summon Blackwhip again, but only a few sparks of black energy sputtered out before fizzling out like wet fireworks.
"Of all the times for this to happen..." He muttered.
He looked at the six Valkyries closing in. He looked at the determination in Kiana's eyes, the lightning arcing off Mei's blade, and the grim resolve on Theresa's face.
Fu Hua saw him sign before he turned to look at the sky.
"Wait, no—!"
She was too slow
Zero shot into the night sky like a rocket, leaving a crater in the street. He ascended rapidly, aiming for the cloud layer, intending to disappear into the dark above the facility.
"He's running away!" Kiana shouted, raising her guns to fire, but he was already out of range.
But a Wendy blurred past them in a flash of speed and gave chase. The team saw her disappear into the clouds.
/ — /
Zero looked up, expecting nothing to be blocking his escape.
Instead, he saw green.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Wendy was hovering directly in his flight path, illuminated by the moonlight.
She slammed her hands together.
A massive, cyclonic tornado erupted around them, stretching from the street to the clouds. It was a cage of wind moving at hundreds of miles per hour, creating a wall of pressure that no physical object could pass through.
Zero slammed into the wall of the vortex and was thrown back into the center. He stabilized himself, floating in the eye of the storm, trapped.
He looked up.
Wendy looked down at him with a sneer that matched his own.
"You're not going anywhere."
________
Author Notes: First of all, merry (late) Christmas, everyone, and happy (almost) new year! I wanted your opinion on something. I have made a few side stories for this fic to explore more fun interactions with the characters. I already posted them on other sites, but I want to know if it's better to make another fic specifically for side stories or just post them here?