Meaning: I'm here.
--------------------------
"Whoosh!"
"Bang!"
"Damn it! Just a mere.."
"Bang!"
On the Imaginary Tree, the sound of being hit echoed endlessly.
Each time it hit the ground, it would tenaciously climb back up and launch again.
"Whoosh!"
"Bang!"
Standing below, Miss Messenger shifted her steps back and forth in confusion, her gaze following the figure of the Herrscher of the Void, unable to keep up.
At first, Miss Messenger wanted to stop it, but the Herrscher was too fast, getting right up in her face to provoke her, and with Godzilla taking action, she simply stood there obediently, thinking about how to resolve the situation.
As Godzilla and the Herrscher engaged in their "friendly spar," with the Imaginary Tree as the center, the tides of imaginary energy spread outward, forming waves through the vast space.
Godzilla lightly flicked its thick tail, and no matter how the Herrscher of the Void dodged, teleported, or phased, every move struck dead center.
Joy gleamed in those golden vertical pupils.
As it turned out, a bit of exercise now and then was indeed good for one's health.
Gritting her teeth in hatred, the Herrscher of the Void glared fiercely at Godzilla.
Utter humiliation! To think that she, the apostle of a god, would suffer such disgrace, unforgivable!
A pufferfish that's puffed up isn't so easy to deflate.
At that moment, the Herrscher of the Void cast aside all thought, leaving only one, to make this insolent creature before her taste pain.
With both hands thrust forward, countless imaginary tunnels opened up, and in the next moment, endless imaginary energy burst forth at Godzilla!
Subspace Spear!
"This kind of clumsy creature is perfect for this." The smirk on the Herrscher's face hadn't lasted long before,
Thud. Thud, thud.
The unending sound reached her ears, and the Herrscher of the Void's eyes widened in disbelief.
Her Subspace Spear hadn't even pierced the skin.
Godzilla lowered its head, glanced at its stomach, and blinked.
'Hmm.' That tickled a little.
Lifting its head, seeing the stunned Herrscher still lost in disbelief that her attack had failed, Godzilla let out a low roar.
Its whip-like tail swiftly lashed out , smack! , lightly tapping the Herrscher's head.
The world fell silent.
Scratching its tail with a claw, Godzilla nodded in satisfaction and retracted it.
Today's exercise, complete.
Then, lifting the dizzy Herrscher of the Void with the tip of its tail, Godzilla closed its eyes once more.
With each breath, the Herrscher hanging from the tail's tip rose and fell rhythmically.
Quite in sync.
Seeing this, Miss Messenger shook her head helplessly.
Humans, sometimes they need to be taught a little lesson to learn manners.
Wait!
Miss Messenger suddenly noticed something was off.
It seemed the Herrscher of the Void wasn't giving up despite all this.
Could this be what they call, a dead duck with a stubborn mouth?
…
No one knew how long had passed before the Herrscher of the Void slowly awoke.
Holding her dizzy head, she felt the world spinning, her legs weak. The imaginary energy that once obeyed her command now felt dull and obscure, unresponsive.
Before she could make sense of what was happening, a calm voice spoke beside her.
"You're awake." The sound jolted the Herrscher, instantly clearing her mind.
"Human, what have you done?!" Even though her body felt strange, the Herrscher of the Void still maintained her hostility and vigilance toward humans.
Humans, vile creatures!
"I didn't do anything. But you, you look like you might have hit your head. Are you dizzy?"
Knowing how Herrschers were born, Miss Messenger didn't mind the hostility, responding with a gentle smile.
Her eyes were full of compassion, gazing at the poor soul battered by the world.
Even though she wore a hood.
The Herrscher wanted to bare her teeth, but the corner of her eye caught sight of that towering giant, and she bit back the words she was about to say.
Her power lay in controlling imaginary energy and manipulating imaginary space.
She was the Herrscher closest to the Will of Honkai.
Even though she didn't know where she was, the abundance of imaginary energy around her made it clear this place was no ordinary realm.
Even so, to be utterly defeated by Godzilla in such a place of immense imaginary energy… Acting rashly could mean death.
"Take a deep breath. Feeling dizzy is normal." Seeing her calm down, Miss Messenger smiled softly, offering reassurance.
After much patient effort, the Herrscher of the Void finally quieted down.
Of course, that also involved a bit of… subtle intimidation.
After resting a while and feeling her mind clear again, the Herrscher attempted to connect to the higher dimension.
But she failed.
Though disappointed, she wasn't too surprised, gods were not so easily contacted. In all her existence, she had only been noticed a few times.
Gazing warily at the relaxed Godzilla, the Herrscher couldn't comprehend it.
How could such a being even exist in this world? And how had it gone unnoticed for so long?
She despised humans, but she knew they had countless methods of detection. Whenever a Herrscher was born, they would be discovered and hunted by human armies.
So she couldn't imagine how Godzilla had remained unrecorded for so long.
Her mind was full of questions, but she quickly cast them aside.
She wasn't a scholar, thinking about it wouldn't help, and she wouldn't come up with anything anyway.
"Human, what's with that look in your eyes?!" Snapping at Miss Messenger, who had been staring at her for a while, the Herrscher barked.
"Hmm? Oh, sorry , my work's a bit… special. I was just thinking about it."
After sincerely apologizing, Miss Messenger asked the Herrscher for permission.
"May I record your memories? My job is to collect precious memories, and this is the first time I have the chance to see a Herrscher's memory."
"Heh, humans truly are greedy creatures. What do you plan to do with my memories? And besides, haven't you already met those traitors before?"
The Herrscher sneered, the traces of betrayal clinging to Miss Messenger's aura almost tangible , and she still dared to talk about a deal?
"They all refused." Touching her fingers together, Miss Messenger smiled awkwardly.
"Hmph! A mere human, wanting to record my memories? Impossible!"
"Oh…" Miss Messenger replied softly, dejectedly sighing to herself.
Looks like her quarterly performance would hit bottom again.
Suddenly, the Herrscher furrowed her brows.
"So it's time to wake up already." As soon as the words fell, her body began to fade away.
Before leaving, she glared at Godzilla, crossing her arms and turning her head with a huff. Fuming.
"When I'm fully free, I'll make you understand the price of angering a god!" The perfect tone of a sore loser.
Godzilla stared at her indifferently, tail flicking lightly , smack! , casually swatting her away.
To Godzilla, the Herrscher of Void's threat meant nothing.
She was like a soft, fluffy kitten baring its fangs, but at the slightest touch, it would tuck its paws back in and look up with pitiful eyes.
Well, maybe with a fierce glare instead.
But either way, it didn't matter.
In Godzilla's eyes, that was what the Herrscher of the Void was like. If anything, maybe add a pufferfish.
…
What happened on the Imaginary Tree was not for outsiders to know.
At least for now, the Archbishop had no time for other matters.
He sat motionless, staring at the image on the screen before him, eyes wide and unblinking.
Pink, his lifelong nemesis.
"... She is-"
"Archbishop, this is the pseudo-Herrscher I reported earlier. According to current intelligence, Lady Theresa has arranged for her to serve as a swordsmanship instructor at St. Freya Academy. Based on recent observation, she poses no security threat. However, we can't rule out the possibility that she's merely biding her time." Rita reported softly.
Her eye twitched slightly.
Something felt off, she couldn't help but sense that the Archbishop's emotions were fluctuating more than usual.
Thinking that, Rita smiled and said, "Miss Amber should be very clear about the details. She's been following up these past few days."
"Ah? Oh, r-right." Amber didn't understand why the topic suddenly shifted to her, but she still nodded in acknowledgment.
"... I understand. Everything as usual." Otto nodded slightly, his expression calm as ever, revealing no trace of emotion.
Rita could only attribute her earlier feeling to an illusion. After all, someone like the Archbishop couldn't possibly show such obvious emotional fluctuations.
If it were about Lady Theresa, she might believe it, but as for a pseudo-Herrscher, Rita wasn't being arrogant, such beings were insignificant compared to the real thing.
After all, a Herrscher's true strength lies in their core, and pseudo-Herrschers happen to lack that most crucial element.
Otto truly didn't take this pink-haired fox, who had vanished for five hundred years and suddenly reappeared, seriously.
Really.
It's just that he suddenly thought, perhaps when Kallen opened her eyes again to see the world, it would be nice if someone familiar were by her side.
Yes, really.
…
A few days later, at an abandoned base of Schicksal.
Two people who held authority and power over the world stood face to face.
"Kevin Kaslana, Sovereign of World Serpent, welcome."
"Otto Apocalypse, I've heard your name before."
The two did not immediately draw swords as some might imagine.
Everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly.
"It's my honor." Otto slightly bowed, graceful as always.
"Tell me your purpose," Kevin said flatly.
"The fact that we're meeting already says it all, doesn't it?" Otto smiled faintly, everything was implied within that smile.
"We are both men burdened by obsession, though our paths are opposites, extremes of two directions."
Otto was well aware of this. Kevin bore the mark of salvation, while he himself carried the obsession of redemption, they could not be more different.
Except for a few people like Theresa, Otto cared for nothing else.
Kevin, on the other hand, bore the will of the predecessors of the Previous Era.
Neither of them lived for themselves.
"This era's Honkai is different, you must have felt it too." Suddenly, Otto said this.
The Honkai had changed. Even the most unshakable minds had noticed.
In the Previous Era, every Herrscher born was a terrifying existence strong enough to inspire despair.
The most direct example, the Herrscher of Rock, who sacrificed herself to sink the Mu continent.
That was a true natural disaster.
Even an illiterate human, after becoming a Herrscher in the Previous Era, could manipulate the laws of nature with incredible mastery.
Unlike the Herrschers of the Current Era.
At least, Otto couldn't fathom how the Second Herrscher, the Herrscher of the Void, managed to waste such immense power in that way.
Even later, when she gained multiple Herrscher Cores, she still ended up being defeated.
In the Previous Era, a Herrscher of that level could at least cause catastrophic damage to civilization, even if not destroy it entirely.
The Herrscher of Domination was indeed stronger than those of the past.
Kevin was certain of that. It's just that their battle record was… lacking.
But Kevin knew it wasn't her fault, her opponents were simply too strong.
"This is the era most likely to end the Honkai," Kevin said in evaluation.
"And in the process, we can take advantage of the changing tides to accomplish things once impossible, can't we?"
...
No one knew what agreement the Sovereign of World Serpent and the Archbishop of Schicksal had reached.
Everything seemed as usual.
...
"How scary, Dr. Ruan Mei just showed up out of nowhere. I thought I was hallucinating." Pouting unhappily, March 7th glared at Stelle.
"It's your fault! You didn't tell me beforehand!"
"How was I supposed to know Ruan Mei was here too?" Scratching her cheek, Stelle refused to take the blame.
She was still too young for that.
After a brief pout, March 7th suddenly pointed ahead excitedly.
"Look, look! That's the Saint's Medical Institute Uncle Welt mentioned! It really exists!"
...
The Moon.,
Kiana, Herrscher of Finality.
Time flowed like water, stars turned, seas changed, time passed.
"By my calculations, the time for the next Herrscher to be born is near." Welt checked the time and said to Himeko☆ [Star Rail].
"The Herrscher of Sentience, right? So it's almost time for her to be born." Himeko☆'s eyes lit up at his words.
She had been enjoying a pleasant vacation surrounded by Welt's people.
Among them, the Herrscher of Sentience and the other Seele had become especially dear to her.
Why? Because they reminded her of the troublemaking little March and Stelle.
Especially Stelle. Come to think of it, they were about the same age.
So, Himeko☆ was particularly interested in witnessing the birth of the Herrscher of Sentience.
"It's been a while since I've seen March and Stelle. I heard they've been having fun, perfect time to visit." Welt chuckled softly.
"We still don't know whether the timeline has shifted too much, it's possible the Herrscher's birth was delayed or moved up. Let's head over and see for ourselves."
"Mm." Himeko☆ nodded.
Not that she had to go, but… whenever she thought of those two troublemakers together, she couldn't help feeling uneasy.
As everyone knows, when two mischief-makers come together, chaos levels up.
Himeko still had no idea how big of a mess they might cause.
Just then,
"So you're finally leaving, huh?" Following the voice, they saw Dr. Tesla, arms crossed and glaring at Welt unhappily.
"The journey never ends, and with those two kids, there's always something new to worry about."
Facing Tesla's fiery energy, Welt could only lower his head in guilt.
"Traveling isn't a problem," Einstein said calmly, "as long as it's not another one of those sudden, unannounced trips where you vanish without leaving a message."
Her words made cold sweat trickle down Welt's back.
"Haha, no, no, that won't happen again! That last time was an accident, I didn't expect to end up on the Astral Express! Definitely won't happen again." Welt laughed awkwardly, promising over and over.
During his time at home, he'd been living under constant passive-aggressive energy.
At any moment, Tesla could jump out from a corner with biting sarcasm far too refined for her usual level.
And since he was completely at fault this time, he didn't dare talk back at all.
"As long as you're fine, Uncle Welt," Kiana said with a smile, glancing at Himeko and whispering softly,
"If possible, please tell Himeko-sensei something for me."
"Of course." Himeko☆ smiled and nodded.
...
The Past.,
St. Freya Academy.
"So this is the old St. Freya? It's just as beautiful as the one in the future." Looking around, curiosity shone in Himeko☆'s eyes.
"At this time period, St. Freya Academy should be in a rather unstable state… but it doesn't seem to affect the students much. Judging by the atmosphere, there's no sense of urgency about a Honkai outbreak at all."
Adjusting his glasses, Welt analyzed calmly.
As expected.
After all, this past was no longer the same as the one in his memory, even now, his recollections of those days were but a hazy fog constantly changing...