Domination / Deal ...

Su Jue pushed open the door to his room, and the aroma of food drifted into his nose. His expression turned slightly strange. Several steaming dishes were indeed laid out on the table, while Murata Himeko bustled about in the kitchen, seemingly preparing dinner.

Is she planning to poison me?

The absurd thought flashed through his mind. Keeping his expression unchanged, he sat down in a chair and waited to see what happened.

"Oh? Little guy, you finally decided to leave your room." Himeko emerged from the kitchen carrying a plate of stir-fried cabbage. Aside from the presentation being rather hard to compliment, it actually smelled pretty good.

"Hmph." Su Jue snorted coldly, seemingly still angry that Himeko had looked through his things that afternoon. Himeko, on the other hand, casually waved at him.

"Oh, don't be mad. Big sister was just curious about you. See? I made a lavish dinner to apologize." Setting down the dish, Himeko turned around and pulled two bottles of sake from a plastic bag beside the table.

Unfortunately, her words did not ease Su Jue's suspicions. They only made him more wary. "You're saying you made these yourself?"

"Haha..." Under Su Jue's gaze, Himeko gave an awkward laugh. Finally, unable to withstand the pressure, she admitted the truth. "Actually, I just bought them outside. I only put them on plates."

No wonder the plating was so ugly.

Still, the food was decent. It did not seem like it had come from some roadside stall. But... "Where did you get the money? Don't tell me you took it from my cabinet."

His medical records and a large handful of loose change were in that cabinet. He had saved that money for a long time—it was a prop, the mark of an old actor. It would have been a pity if Himeko had simply spent it.

"Of course not. As a Schicksal Valkyrie, I have my own source of income, you know." Once they sat down, Himeko had barely taken two bites before opening a bottle of sake.

She placed one bottle before Su Jue. He frowned, but did not refuse it. Seeing that, Himeko smiled and raised her own bottle, taking a huge gulp.

"Didn't I say you weren't allowed to go out? You're supposed to be dead now. If the funds in your account change, Schicksal will trace it back to me immediately. You should know very well what the consequences would be." Su Jue drummed his fingers against the table, clearly displeased with Himeko acting on her own.

Murata Himeko naturally understood that as well. Still, she was not foolish enough to actually leak information to Schicksal.

Not to mention that, as Su Jue's puppet, she would immediately be sensed if she did anything against him. More importantly, after Otto had used Kiana as a vessel for the Herrscher of Void, her attitude toward Schicksal had fallen to rock bottom. At this point, she even hoped that this little Herrscher would give Otto a good beating someday.

"Don't worry. I used a puppet body when I went out. It looked completely different from me, and I didn't touch any accounts in my name. I spent the dowry I'd saved up for all these years." Thinking of that, Himeko's mood suddenly sank. "I didn't even find someone to marry before I died..."

Su Jue glanced at the self-pitying Himeko and ignored her. Compared to their earlier tense probing, the two of them were now getting along much more naturally.

Su Jue picked up his chopsticks, took some food, and quietly chewed in small bites. He ate in silence, looking as cold as ever. Himeko, meanwhile, became much more talkative. Instead of eating the fragrant dinner, she hugged her bottle and kept drinking.

"Hey, Herrscher, tell me about your life before you became one. Isn't it only proper for a superior to introduce himself to his subordinate?"

"That has nothing to do with you."

The smell of alcohol washed over him. Before Su Jue could react, Himeko had leaned close to him. "How could it have nothing to do with me? Only by understanding our superior's preferences can subordinates like us carry out orders better."

An impatient glint flashed through Su Jue's eyes. In an instant, control over Himeko's body was stripped away. She could only watch helplessly as he made her obediently sit back down in her chair.

"Fine, fine. I won't ask anymore." Once the control was released, Himeko did not dare say anything reckless. There would be plenty of time in the future. As long as Su Jue did not clearly reject her, she would eventually uncover the truth. Though he had remained cold toward her because of what happened at noon, he had not punished her. It was clear that he did not see his puppets entirely as tools.

That was a very good weakness. Himeko gradually understood what to do. From now on, she only needed to slowly test his limits.

This dinner was unexpectedly harmonious. Though all the dishes had been bought outside, they were still better than anything she could make herself. Su Jue could not find much to criticize, and under Himeko's coaxing, he drank quite a bit of sake.

The sake was not particularly strong, but Su Jue almost never drank. After finishing an entire bottle, he was actually feeling rather dizzy.

Watching Su Jue's faintly flushed face, still aloof even while drunk, Murata Himeko felt the guilty thrill of an older woman luring in a young boy. She had not deliberately intended to get him drunk. She simply had not expected his alcohol tolerance to be so low.

Though she felt somewhat guilty, she would not miss such a rare opportunity. While Su Jue was still dazed, she quietly moved closer to him.

"Su Jue?" she asked tentatively, prepared to be controlled at any moment. Yet Su Jue seemed not to notice her approach. Instead, he slumped onto the table and muttered softly.

Himeko bent down to hear the boy's murmur clearly.

"Mom..."

So something bad really had happened to him?

She sighed softly to herself, but Su Jue was at his least guarded in this state. She had to seize the chance to obtain some useful information.

"As the Herrscher of Domination, what are you planning to do next?"

"..."

Such a direct question naturally received no answer. Himeko was already prepared to fail, but Su Jue suddenly raised his head and stared at her with clouded eyes.

"The Herrscher of Void's companions will come to Sky City tomorrow. As my puppet, I want you to kill them. Kill them, understand? Hic... kill..."

With a thud, Su Jue collapsed onto the table as though he had finished assigning his task, falling directly asleep. His sleeping face looked peaceful, but Himeko's heart could not calm down.

"Theresa and the others are coming to Sky City?" Himeko's heart sank upon hearing the news. Sky City was far from peaceful. Not only did countless factions lurk here, but a Herrscher had already bared its fangs at them.

This trip was bound to be fraught with danger. She had to stop them.

Yet the instant that thought arose, the golden threads suddenly tightened, as though they were about to burrow into her soul. As the threads drew tauter and tauter, the intense pain nearly blanked out her mind. Even Himeko, with her unyielding will, could not help feeling despair. She felt as though the threads would slice her into pieces the next second.

Su Jue, who had just fallen asleep, was jolted awake. The golden light in his eyes was thick and intense.

"You intend to betray me?"

Domination

Perhaps the repeated tests had gone without incident, causing Murata Himeko to forget that the one before her was a Herrscher.

When golden flames began burning in his eyes, the vast gap between their levels of existence was laid bare before her for the first time. Fine threads pulled and pierced through her, like an exquisite master tailor carefully stitching a puppet back together.

This pain far exceeded Honkai corruption. It was needlework inflicted directly upon the soul.

"This is the punishment granted to traitors." The blush had not yet faded from Su Jue's face, but none of a boy's immaturity remained in him. With lowered eyes, he looked at Himeko curled up on the floor in agony, completely devoid of emotion.

Endless kindness would only make people push their luck. Only when power was truly displayed before them would they learn to endure, and understand how precious even a sliver of kindness was.

"Murata Himeko, you crossed the line." As his words fell, the puppet threads abruptly snapped. Countless wounds suddenly burst open across Himeko's body where the threads had wound around her. Blood instantly stained the dining table red, turning the once-palatable dishes a dark crimson.

Like a discarded, broken doll, Murata Himeko could barely even breathe. Every inch of skin sent her signals of pain. Even her long red hair had become ugly from being soaked in blood. She lay helplessly on the floor like a corpse. One of her dim orange-red eyes had been flooded with blood, while the other could only stare dully at the boy standing beside her.

This time, she finally understood. No matter how many memories that boy had, no matter how little resistance he showed toward her probing, his true bottom line had always been there. Once she crossed it, she would no longer face a boy, but the Herrscher named Domination.

Why had things turned out like this? Had Su Jue's tolerance of her repeated probing led her to this? Had escaping punishment after being exposed while searching for clues made her lower her guard? Or was it because she had still tried to negotiate with him with the mindset of a St. Freya teacher?

Perhaps she truly had gotten carried away.

With that thought, her vision went completely dark.

After Himeko fainted, the golden light in Su Jue's eyes slowly faded. He lightly moved his fingers through the air, opening an Imaginary Rift. A puppet carrying a medical kit stepped out and carefully stopped Himeko's bleeding before applying medicine to her wounds.

Using the past as bait and kindness as shackles could indeed deepen a puppet's bonds, but kindness alone could not support this grand performance.

What Su Jue needed was a controllable puppet, not a kind friend.

Humans were complicated creatures. When you chose to give them an inch, they would think of taking another foot. It was an instinct born of greed. Even kindness, once they grew accustomed to the kindness you gave them, would become pure malice the moment it stopped.

If Su Jue merely arranged a performance for her without giving her any deterrence, Himeko would soon consider his authority optional. If rebellious thoughts arose and she secretly helped his enemies, then even if he could erase her, he would be unable to recover any losses. Not only would he lose a powerful combatant, but his enemies would also discover his trail.

So he had to tame her beforehand. The method of taming passed down through thousands of years was very simple: carrots and sticks. Giving her hope, making her believe that infiltrating Su Jue's side would allow her to help the children—that was the carrot. Giving her despair, striking like thunder whenever she defied Su Jue's interests—that was the stick.

Only then could he firmly hold the puppet in his hands and drive her toward Su Jue's goals without making her resent him. Instead, she would smugly believe that she had won the children a sliver of hope within the desperate situation Su Jue had created.

Controlling puppets had never been the key. Only controlling people's hearts was what made a Herrscher.

After confirming that Murata Himeko could no longer escape his control, Su Jue shifted his attention to the present Sky City.

Two days had passed since Su Jue spread Kiana's photo. Even if permits to enter Shenzhou were difficult to obtain, Schicksal and the people aboard the Hyperion should have reached this city by now.

Though he had used Gray Serpent's name, this was also a gift Su Jue had prepared for Gray Serpent. In the original plan, World Serpent had already intended to contact Schicksal. What they lacked was merely an opportunity. The information Su Jue provided was the perfect bait.

Therefore, even if Gray Serpent suspected Su Jue's identity, he would definitely take this chance to trade with Schicksal.

Snap.

At Su Jue's snap, a golden glint flashed through the eyes of a hooded man leaning against an alley wall amid the bustling night. He raised his head and watched a massive transport plane pass overhead. In the faint moonlight, the symbol resembling the character "Fei" on the transport plane was clearly visible.

"Schicksal's S-Rank Valkyrie, Rita Rossweisse..." Su Jue muttered. In his memories, this noble S-Rank's record did not seem particularly impressive—for example, allowing Mei, who was only B-Rank, to escape from her; surrounding Kiana, who was only A-Rank and restrained by Sirin, with others and still letting her leave unharmed; or being easily drugged and nearly having a combat weapon produced by Jackal capture her alive...

Ahem. Now was not the time to remember those things. She was a genuine S-Rank, after all. Even if she took losses, they were only temporary, right?

Controlling Chris's puppet, Su Jue quickly left the alley. The whole city was now monitored by the humanoid robots created by Gray Serpent. He needed to be careful if he wanted to profit under both Schicksal's and World Serpent's noses.

Trade

Neon lights flickered to life, and the city flourished in splendor.

Even though the outside world had already been ravaged into ruins by the Honkai, the center of this city remained prosperous and safe, as though disaster had never occurred. People's joys and sorrows were never the same. Before disaster descended upon them personally, tragedy was no more than an insignificant topic of conversation.

As Rita walked through Sky City's streets, this was the first thought that came to her mind. As part of the terms for Fu Hua's assistance in Otto's dealings, Shenzhou was not under Schicksal's control. Though some contact was inevitable, Shenzhou as a whole still developed through its local powers.

Thus, even Rita could not help being surprised upon seeing this technological city. Networks were everywhere, while transportation links extended in every direction, supplying the entire city like blood vessels.

Of course, the price was the unchecked decline of its surrounding regions. Outside the core district, other areas still languished in the hell of Honkai attacks, while the suburbs had become fringe zones, growing increasingly distant from the advanced metropolis. The city was like a giant heart that only took in and never gave out, drawing blood from its entire jurisdiction to sustain itself.

But that had nothing to do with Schicksal. Rita did not care how this city developed. What concerned her was the beast hidden in the darkness, baring its vicious fangs.

As she considered this, Rita's lovely brows lifted slightly. She noticed a gaze that seemed to have been fixed upon her the entire time.

"Is he one of Gray Serpent's people?"

Just as she was about to draw her scythe and act, a young man who seemed extremely excited walked toward her.

"Um, miss, are you cosplaying as a maid?" The man wore thick black-rimmed glasses and had messy, choppy hair. He looked like someone who was not good at grooming himself. He had stared at Rita for a long time, only gathering the courage to approach after seeing that she was about to leave.

Rita released the handle of her scythe and resumed her usual elegant bearing. Though she was accustomed to wearing a maid outfit in Schicksal, maid outfits were not so common in the culturally different Shenzhou. She carefully looked over the man. The shirt beneath his jacket bore colorful anime artwork. His jacket looked rather well-covered, but if she remembered correctly, it was merchandise from some animated work. His timid expression, and even the way he looked elsewhere rather than at Rita while speaking, showed that he did not dare meet her eyes.

"No." After labeling him as a harmless shut-in otaku, Rita denied it with a polite smile.

"Then could I take a picture with you? Just one. I promise I won't leak it." The otaku seemed not to notice Rita's disdain. Instead, his face reddened as he gathered his courage.

Looking at the camera in his hands, Rita sighed. She had already drawn the scythe from behind her. With a light flick, it transformed from its folded state into a killing weapon. "If you do not wish to cause trouble for yourself, I suggest you leave as soon as possible."

The man's face changed dramatically upon seeing Rita's movement. Only then did he realize that the streets around them had become empty at some point, while more than a dozen black-clad figures emerged from nowhere and gradually surrounded the area.

"Sorry for bothering you." Realizing this was not a place to linger, the otaku hurriedly clutched his camera and ran into the distance in a panic. Yet before he could take more than two steps, gunfire rang out. Blood burst from his back. He endured the pain and continued running, only to fall amid a succession of gunshots. Blood stained his camera red.

Rita felt nothing upon seeing the man who had just spoken to her die. She knew that the real hunt had only just begun.

Bang, bang—

A barrage of bullets swept toward her, but firearms posed no threat to a Valkyrie. Her enormous scythe carved an arc through the air, slicing apart the curtain of bullets. Using that brief opening, her supple body had already leaped onto a streetlamp.

Then, with a thunderous boom, the streetlamp was reduced to scrap metal beneath her push-off, while she herself rapidly closed in on the first attacker.

Sshk—

Like a searing butcher's blade cutting through fresh pork, the massive scythe instantly severed one attacker in two. Blood sprayed everywhere, yet not a drop touched Rita's skirt.

After easily cutting down the first enemy, Rita moved like an elegant dancer, freely swinging her massive scythe. The entire street became her stage, and amid the unceasing gunfire, she performed a perfect solo dance for the unwelcome audience.

Snap.

The final corpse collapsed limply. Rita's performance was finally over. She somewhat idly patted her short skirt, as though checking whether any dust had gotten onto it.

"What do you think of my cleaning skills, Mr. Gray Serpent?" As if speaking to herself, Rita's gaze fell upon the shadows beneath a building.

Before the man himself appeared, his umbrella did. As the signature black umbrella emerged from the darkness like something from a movie, the man called Gray Serpent finally revealed himself.

"With your own strength, you slaughtered all my bodyguards. It seems Miss Rita has no intention of negotiating."

With a faint smile on her lips, Rita said, "Cleaning up the negotiating venue is merely a small habit of mine. Do you dislike it?"

"..."

"Oh dear, it seems I did something unnecessary." She continued to herself. "Well, to compensate for your losses, I can offer a transaction with generous returns."

Gray Serpent's expression could not be seen beneath his mask, but his voice carried obvious mockery. "It seems Schicksal's friends are not particularly friendly. Does that mean I have no choice but to accept this transaction?"

"Mhm. Think whatever you like, Mr. Gray Serpent." After confirming that Gray Serpent posed no threat, Rita's smile faded.

"Two days ago, you uploaded a photograph of a girl. You know very well who she is, and you understand her value. Yet you still chose to upload it to Schicksal's information network. Now, tell me where she is."

Gray Serpent's voice remained calm as he asked, "And what can I gain from this transaction?"

"Hmm, let me think." Rita lightly furrowed her brows, seeming to genuinely consider it. "A reliable ally, and... the assurance that you can leave here safely."

"That sounds rather good. Though I already have more than one ally, who would complain about having too many friends? But as for the terms of the deal, using the other party's life as a bargaining chip—does that not violate the spirit of commerce?"

"It seems your bodyguards have not taught you the value of life." Casually kicking one of the black-clad corpses before Gray Serpent, Rita's voice gradually turned cold.

"Miss Rita, to a snake, death is only the beginning of the next transaction. What you need to watch out for is being targeted by a snake, otherwise..."

Before Gray Serpent could finish, a sharp blade tore open his throat and severed his artery.

Looking at Gray Serpent lying in a pool of blood, Rita slowly put away her dagger.

"You're right, Mr. Gray Serpent. Death is the beginning of the next transaction. So for this transaction, I'm afraid you have no choice but to accept."

No Plan Is Foolproof