"Yes."
That was the answer Kiana heard from Reina after asking her question hesitantly.
Such a simple word, but Kiana knew it wasn't a lie. From Reina's tone and the expression on her face, Kiana could tell-it was the truth.
In truth, Kiana had hoped Reina would say "no" instead. If she had, Kiana could've just laughed it off and said something like, "Right, no way my Reina could do something like make Honkai corruption disappear," while hugging her.
"Right, you're not gonna believe me if I say I can absorb Honkai energy, huh?" Reina suddenly spoke, noticing how quiet Kiana had become.
"N-No! I believe you! I'll always believe you-even if you told me you were some kind of angel who fell from the sky just to save me while I was frozen in a blizzard!" Kiana said, panicking.
"Fufufu, you're always so cute when you're flustered like that," Reina chuckled softly at her reaction.
But then, her smile faded, and she stared at Kiana seriously with her deep ruby eyes. "Let me show you something," she said, raising her right palm toward her.
"Put your palm on mine."
Hearing that, Kiana without a hint of hesitation slowly followed Reina's gesture and placed her left palm on top of Reina's.
Suddenly, her consciousness was pulled away.
Her surroundings changed entirely-she was now standing in a vast landscape filled with nothing but floating, giant cubes and scattered clouds.
"Where...?"
"Where...?"
She heard her own voice-but from a different direction.
Turning her head, her eyes widened in shock. There was another girl there... but she looked almost exactly like her-except the girl eyes were golden.
"Wha-!? Who the hell are you, copycat!? You stole my look!" Kiana shouted at her doppelganger.
"Hah? Who do you think you're talking to like that, you lowly insect?!" the Herrscher of Void snapped, clearly angered-until she turned fully and recognized Kiana.
"You!" Her golden eyes narrowed dangerously as she locked eyes with Kiana.
"Huh? What do you mean, you copycat!"
Suddenly, the Herrscher of Void stormed toward her and grabbed both of Kiana's shoulders tightly. "You insect!! You're the reason all of this happened! Because of you, I got beaten up by that weird woman!!"
"Hah!? I don't even know what you're talking about! Stop shaking me, you stupid copycat!"
"You're the stupid one for getting involved with someone like her!"
The two of them immediately began bickering and fighting with each other.
Right now, the Herrscher of Void could only punch and shake Kiana because Reina had sealed her core. In terms of power, she was basically the same as Kiana at the moment.
Smack
Bang
Thwack
Both of them kept punching each other a few more times before they suddenly rolled across the ground.
"Not the face, you idiot copycat!"
"You're the one who punched me in the face first!"
Because of that, Kiana and the Herrscher of Void kept trying to hit each other's faces, but Kiana clearly wasn't going to let hers get hit so easily.
After all, she knew how much Reina liked her cute face.
"That's enough!"
A deep, reverberating voice suddenly echoed, making both of them freeze in place.
Turning their heads toward the sound, they saw Reina—her long black hair flowing like a shadow and her ruby-red eyes glowing with intensity.
Her six dark wings spread wide behind her, enhancing her presence. Both Kiana and the Herrscher of Void could only stare as Reina slowly descended to the ground.
"I left you two alone for 20 seconds, and you already started beating each other up."
Slowly, both of them let go of each other and stood up.
"Hmph!" The Herrscher of Void crossed her arms and looked away from Reina with a pout.
But Kiana was different. Her eyes were wide open, and her mouth hung agape as she stared at Reina's form.
After landing, Reina looked directly at Kiana and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that? Your mouth's gonna hurt if you keep it open that wide, you know~"
Kiana quickly snapped out of her daze, but her face had already turned red as she awkwardly tried to respond.
"I-I-I mean... you just... you look—y-you're so—!! I-I wasn't ready for this—!!" she stuttered, flailing her arms slightly, her eyes darting everywhere but Reina's face.
Her heart was beating way too fast, and she couldn't look straight at Reina's glowing red eyes or her elegant wings without feeling like she was about to melt on the spot.
Reina tilted her head slightly with a small chuckle. "You know you can talk to me like usual, right? I'm still your Reina."
"B-But you're so... so pretty right now! Like... like some kind of dark angel!" Kiana buried her face into her hands, groaning in embarrassment. "Ughhh I sound like a weirdo now..."
"Fufu~ You're always like this whenever you're flustered. You're just so cute," Reina teased softly, walking toward her.
Kiana peeked at her through her fingers, still blushing hard. "T-That's because it's not fair! You look cool and pretty and terrifying all at once!"
"And you're cute when your face is so red," Reina replied, reaching out to moving a strand of hair behind Kiana ear. "Now, breathe. It's still me. No need to panic."
"That's easy for you to say...." Kiana mumbled under her breath.
"~~~" Reina clearly seemed to be enjoying herself, teasing Kiana at the moment.
After all, it was usually Kiana who was the aggressive one between them, so it felt fun for Reina to take the lead for once.
She gently caressed Kiana's soft cheek, a smile on her face, while Kiana still refused to meet her eyes.
"Fufufu, where's that aggressive side of yours~? Come on, look at me," Reina said, lifting Kiana's chin slightly so their eyes could meet.
Reina was a little taller, so Kiana had to tilt her head up just a bit to see her face properly.
"Grrr! Enough! You two stop doing such disgusting things in front of me!" The Herrscher of Void finally snapped, clearly fed up, and forcibly separated the two.
"Wha—!? What the hell are you doing?! You just ruined our beautiful moment!" Kiana shouted, clearly pissed that the atmosphere had been shattered by the intrusion.
"Shut up! I don't care if you two do your disgusting flirting, but do it somewhere else—just not in front of me!"
"You wanna fight again!?"
"You think i scared of you!"
Both of them immediately dropped into fighting stances, ready to brawl once more.
But before they could even start—
"Ow ow ow!" "Ow ow ow!"
"I already told you two to stop fighting, and you're already at it again?"
Reina was now holding both of them by the ears, pulling just hard enough to make them freeze in place.
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A few moments later, Reina had finally managed to calm them down enough to avoid another fight.
"Anyway, this is the Herrscher of Void. Herrscher of Void, this is Kiana. I'm sure you two already know each other."
"Of course I know who this is..." Herrscher of Void grumbled, still rubbing her sore ear.
"Where are we? The last thing I remember was putting my palm on yours. Also... why is there a girl who looks exactly like me?" Kiana asked, pointing directly at Herrscher of Void.
Then her eyes widened in panic. "Don't tell me you're cheating on me with this copycat?! Are you gonna abandon me?!"
"No and no," Reina replied flatly. "First of all, this is basically you, so I can't really cheat on you with your other self. And technically, we're not in a relationship yet—since I haven't said yes."
"My... other self?" Kiana repeated in confusion.
In the end, Reina had to break it all down and explain to her what a Herrscher was, how the Herrscher of Void existed inside her body, and how she was the reason Kiana had awakened during the forest fire 2 years ago.
"Herrscher core...? She can possess me? She's the one responsible? Honkai energy??" Kiana's brain clearly couldn't keep up anymore. Reina was pretty sure she saw metaphorical smoke coming out of her head.
"Hahhh..." In the end, Reina had to drastically simplify the explanation so that someone like Kiana could understand.
"So you're the one responsible for all of that?!" Kiana shouted at the Herrscher of Void after finally grasping what Reina had said.
"Hmph. They deserved it. Humans are pests. It's better to get rid of them all so the world can finally know peace without them," the Herrscher of Void replied, completely unfazed.
"And who the hell are you to decide that we're pests?!"
"Heh. Of course, I'm a god~ The queen of this world. It's my job to exterminate the parasites roaming it."
Reina could only shake her head at that. If she didn't know how powerful Herrscher of Void was—especially her ability to summon a literal meteor—she'd honestly think she was just a chuunibyou.
Honestly, Mei was lucky. When she fought Kiana as the Herrscher of the Void, Kiana had already been so corrupted and weak that she didn't fight back with her full power.
If Kiana had been healthy and serious back then, Reina was confident she would've beaten Mei easily.
"Kiana... I don't know how to say this, but… what she said isn't exactly wrong. Humans are pests—parasites to this earth."
Kiana turned to her, eyes wide in disbelief.
Even Herrscher of Void was stunned. She didn't expect Reina to agree with her.
"I never told you," Reina began, "but I'm not from this world."
And so, Reina revealed her origins to the both of them.
She didn't come from another bubble universe within the Imaginary Tree—but from beyond it, a place the Imaginary Tree could never reach.
She explained how she had traveled from world to world, witnessing what humanity had done.
"I've met a lot of humans who were absolute trash. They destroyed everything for personal gain. Manipulated innocent people for profit. Some even sold their own friends and family to save themselves," Reina said, voice calm but cold.
"See? You get it!" Herrscher of Void chimed in. "You understand how pathetic they are. So just let me go and give me back my power—I'll wipe them all out!"
But Reina stayed silent for a moment... before smiling and looking at them both.
"But not all humans are like that. There are good ones—like the people we met in the city, or the Valkyries risking everything to protect others. They're human too. They've made mistakes, but they learn, and they try to do better."
"Humans aren't born evil. It's the environment that turns them that way."
As she said this, Reina's red ruby eyes slowly shifted into a gentle sky blue.
She raised both hands toward them.
And like a whisper from a devil, she spoke, "We can't fix every human… but I believe we can fix the environment. No more Honkai energy. No more people being forced to steal or kill to survive."
"We can give them peace. A world without eruptions. A world where their sky is always blue."
Neither of them said anything at first.
But then, slowly, Kiana raised her right hand and reached for Reina's—accepting her words.
Because after everything she had seen during her two years of wandering—from the rich to the poor, from kind souls to monsters, and all those affected by the Honkai—Kiana understood what Reina meant.
She had seen it all.
After Kiana grabbed her hand, she felt the familiar warmth and softness she held every day.
"It's still the same..." Kiana smiled warmly, relieved that nothing had changed after she asked that question.
Reina knew what Kiana was afraid of, but she didn't say anything. She wanted Kiana to realize on her own that their relationship wouldn't change, no matter what.
She would still cook for her every day, warm and delicious meals, and let her cuddle up to her as always.
Someday—she'd definitely let her win and say yes to her proposal.
"What about you?" Reina turned to Herrscher of Void.
"No. My goal is to kill all of humanity, not help them."
"Is it? Is that your goal—or that cocoon's goal?" Reina let go of Kiana's hand as she slowly walked toward Herrscher of Void.
"Wha-what do you mean?"
"I know during the 2nd Eruption, you made a deal with that cocoon—or what you call the Will of the Honkai—to gain more power and summon all those meteors."
Herrscher of Void instinctively stepped back as Reina approached. She was still afraid—afraid because of what happened the last time they fought.
"But because of that deal, your mind became clouded by their command: to wipe out humanity and reset the era to the beginning, like thousands of years ago." Reina didn't let her retreat. She sped up and caught her before she could get away.
Her sky-blue eyes locked onto Herrscher of Void's golden eyes, which refused to meet her gaze.
"Sirin. Do you remember that name? I know you're technically not her, but you still remember her. The little girl who trapped a man and woman into pretending to be her parents."
"What..."
"How happy she was… spending time with them as a family. It was only for a few days, but that was the happiest she had ever been in her short life."
Herrscher of Void went silent, the memories creeping back. She remembered the feelings—those bittersweet days—and the pain of betrayal when that traitor appeared, shattering their fragile dream.
If it weren't for that traitor, maybe everything wouldn't have ended like this. She could still feel the warmth of that woman's hug when the missiles rained down.
Seeing her expression, Reina knew this was her chance to strike.
"I'm not asking you to forgive those people. Honestly, I won't even stop you if you want to kill them." She smiled as she leaned in close, whispering into her ear.
"I'll even lend you my power to do it~"
Herrscher of Void's eyes widened at those words. She remembered how powerful she had become when Reina lent her power during their fight.
With that strength, she could definitely achieve her goal.
"But," Reina continued in a soft whisper, "you can only kill the ones who truly deserve it—like those involved with the Tower of Babylon… even their leader."
She slowly pulled back, watching Herrscher of Void's conflicted expression.
Then, almost too quiet to hear, Reina caught a small mutter:
"...What do you want me to do?"
Hearing that, Reina's smile widened. She knew she had already won.
"I want you to lend your power to Kiana for now. And when the time is right, I'll make you a body of your own—so you can move freely."