"What? What?! I'm also the Herrscher of the Void?"
"I'm a clone?"
"Oh, that damn Cocolia!"
"Huh, are Mei and I really that close in the future?"
"No, Himeko-sensei!"
"Seriously, bro, Himeko actually died? She didn't even show up in the finale? I was waiting for a plot twist!"
"Where the hell is the game designer?! I'm going to banish his entire family into Imaginary Space!"
In a fit of rage, Kiana smashed the tablet!
"Er..." Raiden Mei stood to the side, at a loss for words.
I haven't even watched it yet. Let me see my highlight moments too...
Because Kiana needed to quickly grasp the situation, she had skipped through the story. But after finishing, her emotions spiraled out of control, and she threw the tablet down.
"Wake up, Himeko isn't dead yet," Chen Li said, using his [The Sound of One Hand Slapping] glove to flick Kiana on the forehead from a distance.
The forehead is part of the face, and the fingers are part of the palm. Therefore, flicking a forehead with a finger also counts as a slap.
Perfectly logical.
"Oh," Kiana mumbled, rubbing her forehead.
"Chen Li, quick, feed me a Senzu Bean! I'm going to charge Schicksal and blow them up!" Sirin, who had adamantly refused to eat a Senzu Bean before, was now boiling with rage, her face flushed red.
Just thinking about the despicable things Schicksal had done infuriated her.
"You need to calm down too."
"Not a chance in hell! I'm about to show this rebellious child, Kiana, just how strong the Herrscher of the Void truly is."
"'Rebellious child' is a bit much, don't you think? By the way, what's the deal with Sirin?" Kiana asked, still a little confused.
"It's simple. As an outsider, I once traveled to the Second Eruption and altered the ending slightly. I created a parallel world and transferred all the lives lost in the Second Eruption there. While it's hard to say if this absolves Sirin of her sins, I feel that Schicksal is the one who should be held responsible for all the losses in the Second Eruption," Chen Li explained.
In short, it all came back to one thing: damn you, Otto.
Chen Li didn't deny that Otto was a warrior of pure love, but a dead Otto was a good Otto.
If Otto were dead, he would live on in everyone's hearts. But if Otto were alive, everyone would do their best to crush him.
Only God could probably judge Otto's merits and demerits in the Current Era.
And all people could do was send Otto to meet God.
"Totally, damn Schicksal!" Kiana nodded emphatically.
"So hurry up and feed me a Senzu Bean. I'm going to go blow up Schicksal HQ," Sirin said, wriggling her body.
"Here."
Sensing that Sirin really couldn't hold back her anger, Chen Li fed her a Senzu Bean. She was instantly restored to full health.
"Alright, I'm off to blow up Schicksal. Do any of you want anything?" Sirin asked, standing up, full of energy.
"Take this letter to Otto. Sign it as... 'A like-minded pen pal.' And remember to bring back the Void Archives," Chen Li said, handing Sirin a letter.
This letter detailed Chen Li's act of severing history, the very letter that recorded how he had destroyed Otto's hope of reviving Kallen, written in a cipher only Otto could understand.
Chen Li planned to give Otto a little pen pal shock.
"Be careful not to get beaten up by my sister," Kiana reminded her.
The "sister" Kiana mentioned was, of course, Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie, Durandal, who possessed the power of a World Bubble, grew stronger through effort, and wielded the sixth Divine Key, Abyss Flower.
While others were overjoyed to receive a power-up, Durandal was the one who handed them out.
After watching her own life story, Kiana was actually grateful that Durandal, back when she was still "Kiana," was willing to see her, a clone, as a younger sister.
Calling her "sister" was well worth it.
"Heh, who are you looking down on? Everyone says Durandal is Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie, but I think her skills are just average. I will march into Schicksal HQ, challenge her, and ensure she is utterly defeated!" Sirin declared confidently.
The Sirin of today was not the Sirin of the past!
The current Sirin possessed the one-star Curio, [Myriad Phenomena Severance]! She was a Sirin who had undergone special training from Lady Herta of the Genius Society!
"She's getting puffed up again," Kiana muttered under her breath.
Although Kiana now roughly understood the special relationship between herself and Sirin, she felt surprisingly unafraid, only a sense of familiarity.
More than the queenly demeanor of the Second Herrscher, what left the deepest impression on Kiana from the Second Eruption manga was the image of Sirin as a pufferfish—constantly getting arrogant, constantly getting put in her place, but never learning her lesson because every setback only made her stronger.
"You don't believe me?"
"No, thanks."
"Then do you believe I can make Durandal cry and beg me with a single move?" Sirin retorted.
"Cry and beg you not to die?"
"You're just like Queenie the Sprite, you have no reverence for me at all!" Sirin was getting annoyed.
Was it just because she wasn't as tall as the two of them that they could be so disrespectful?
Damn it, when can we, the loli faction, finally stand up!
What's wrong with being a loli? Lolis can become the mothers of certain boys too!
"You beating Durandal might not be a problem, but doing it in a single move seems a bit unrealistic, doesn't it?" Kiana said.
Kiana now knew that Queenie the Sprite was her Herrscher personality, but she didn't know that in Queenie's eyes, she was just a pet that could be fed at any time. So, her impression of Queenie was actually quite good.
"Hmph, I just need to use [Myriad Phenomena Severance] to temporarily sever the connection between Durandal and the World Bubble inside her, and she'll be taken care of."
"But even without the World Bubble, Durandal still has the sixth Divine Key."
"No, no, Kiana, you misunderstand my strategy. I don't think severing her connection to the World Bubble will render her defenseless. Rather, if I don't reconnect it, the World Bubble will disintegrate due to being disconnected from her! At that point, wouldn't she be putty in my hands?"
Durandal had once used the gem of the holy sword Durandal to seal an entire anchor point, along with the World Bubble itself and its Honkai energy, inside her own body to save it from collapse. As long as she lived, that world would exist.
In other words, as long as the World Bubble believed "Durandal is dead," then regardless of whether she was actually alive, the World Bubble would begin to collapse.
"Huh?" To Kiana, Sirin's idea was a path she had never even imagined.
"For heroes, their friendships and bonds are their greatest weakness, are they not? Tell me, do you think Durandal will resist me for the sake of Schicksal, or will she submit to me for the sake of her friends and their world?" Sirin laughed with wild abandon.
"Sirin, you sound just like a villain right now."
"To Schicksal, I was always the villain."
"But I have a feeling Durandal might shout something about friendship and bonds, do something you can't comprehend, and then defeat you," Kiana said, scratching her head.
Wasn't Honkai Impact 3rd supposed to be a positive, uplifting, and healthy story?
And in stories like that, villains like you, Sirin, always get defeated.
Too evil!
Sirin's plan is just too evil!
"Hope and miracles are never free. And right now, miracles are on my side," Sirin said, playing with the small scissors in her hand.
"Aren't you going to do something about her?" Kiana turned to Chen Li.
Although they hadn't interacted much, Kiana's intuition told her that Chen Li's words carried weight.
"Don't worry, Sirin is just talking big. If she came to this world to be a villain, why would she have stopped the third major Honkai Eruption? Just let her go to Schicksal and blow off some steam. The price Schicksal might pay is just bankruptcy, but what Sirin gets is happiness," Chen Li said nonchalantly.
"Good point. In that case, Sirin, aren't you afraid that Schicksal will target your weakness?" Kiana asked.
"My weakness? My weakness is him." Sirin sneered. "If Schicksal really wants to target my weakness, then let them try. They can do whatever they want to him."
Sirin's weakness was Chen Li, but this weakness of hers was so overwhelmingly powerful that it was impossible for anyone else to exploit.
"Have fun," Chen Li said, waving at Sirin.
"Don't worry, I will."
"Herrscher of the Void, surrender immediately! You are surrounded!" But before Sirin could make her exit, countless mechs descended from the sky, appearing throughout Senba Academy.
At their head was a commanding woman with waist-length, curly blonde hair, dressed in a Russian-style military uniform.
One of Anti-Entropy's Executives, the leader of its reformist faction—Cocolia.
"With just you?"
"With just me." Cocolia snapped her fingers, and countless Anti-Entropy Titan and Goushinnso Memento mechs, previously in a quantum state, materialized.
"How boring. I'm leaving." Sirin glanced at Cocolia before summoning a portal.
Sirin didn't understand how someone as ordinary as Cocolia could be so confident.
This force was only good enough to beat up an exhausted, artificial Fourth Herrscher.
Did she really think this trash could defeat a true Herrscher?
"Stop! I heard you earlier. His name is weakness, right? If you don't want anything to happen to him, you'd better do as I say!" Cocolia pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Chen Li, who was still sitting on the bench.
"Me?" Chen Li pointed at himself, completely bewildered.
You're using me to threaten Sirin?
"Hahaha! Cocolia, I have to admit, you have a real talent for comedy. How about this: if you can manage to tie him up and deliver him to my bed, I'll give you a complete Herrscher core. How does that sound?" Sirin, after a moment of stunned silence, burst out laughing.
Sis, I was just spitballing, and you actually took it seriously?
You've got guts. You're bold. If you can take Chen Li hostage, you're more impressive than an Aeon.
A dark look flashed in Cocolia's eyes.
Because Cocolia wasn't sure if Sirin was just bluffing.
So, Cocolia fired her gun.
Bang!
The shot rang out and then faded.
Staring at the bullet hovering in the air right in front of her, Raiden Mei stumbled back a step in fright.
Huh, why shoot at me?
Cocolia, are you insane?
---o---