Kiana chased the clues carelessly, unaware that Rita loved laying traps. Upon hearing they might have fallen for Rita's scheme, she immediately leaped up and rushed to the designated location.
Just as she climbed onto the roof, ready to act, an explosion echoed, followed by fierce flames. Overlooking the district from above, Kiana's heart skipped a beat, as this raging fire always involuntarily reminded her of that figure.
In the area where Rita and Himeko fought, the concrete ground was virtually destroyed. Had this not been Gray Serpent's stronghold, it would have surely caused a commotion.
Collapsed steel beams and shattered walls littered the scene. In a battle between an S-Rank and an A-Rank, these sturdy buildings fared no better than shoddy construction.
Accompanied by a booming crash, Himeko was sent flying by a heavy slash of the scythe, embedding herself deep into a concrete wall.
Though she pushed Himeko back, Rita's condition was far from ideal. The intense combat severely reopened her previous wounds, and blood soaked through her battle suit. A long-absent wave of exhaustion constantly needled her nerves, filling her with a strong sense of frustration.
Of course, Himeko's condition was even worse. After all, a full rank separated them, and the gap between A-Rank and S-Rank was nearly insurmountable; lasting this far entirely relied on her current body.
As one of the Herrscher of Domination's puppets and part of the Herrscher of a Thousand, she possessed a Herrscher core as an energy source, allowing her to use Honkai Energy in battle without holding back much. Moreover, a puppet's body did not suffer a drop in combat capability from injuries like a human body did. Instead, it functioned more like a health bar, accumulating damage until it could no longer hold out and burst forth all at once.
"How surprising. With mere A-Rank strength, you managed to stall me for nearly ten minutes. But that ends here. No matter where you come from, once I send you to Schicksal's laboratory, you will hold no more secrets." Confirming that Himeko had no capability to move, Rita leaned on her scythe and slowly approached the ruins. Having followed Durandal for so many years, she could complete even the hardest missions with ease, yet today she almost lost to an unknown A-Rank. If word got out, where would Schicksal's reputation go?
Embedded in the wall, Himeko hung her head limply. With her face obscured by red hair, no expression could be read, forcing Rita to maintain her vigilance. Yet perhaps she was overthinking it; even as she walked right up to Himeko and rested her scythe against the latter's neck, not a single trace of resistance came.
"Hmph, Crimson Snake? Let me see who you really are..." The scythe hooked the mask and ripped it off. Beneath it was not Murata Himeko as anticipated, but a completely unfamiliar woman. A wave of relief washed over her, mingled with a touch of regret.
Rita held no ill feelings toward Murata Himeko, and after the latter died in battle against the Herrscher of Void, she too had sighed over the fall of yet another outstanding Valkyrie. But that was all. If this person truly were Himeko, the trouble would be far greater. It would not only mean Otto's plan had a flaw, but it would also signify that World Serpent possessed the ability to breach the Imaginary Space, sending the threat to Schicksal soaring.
"Playing ghosts." Smiling with disdain, Rita pulled out her communicator to report the situation to Otto, but she failed to notice Himeko's orange eyes growing steadily brighter.
Boom—
High heat swept outward, and flames surged.
Chapter 53: The Despicable Su Jue
"Teacher Himeko?" The moment the flames ignited, Kiana's heart shook violently, and in the next second, she prepared to change her plans and rush toward the fire.
"Calm down, Kiana. That is not the power of Crimson Knight." Phoenix immediately sensed the true nature of the flames. As a God-Slaying Armor embedded with the Plague Gem, the impact caused each time it was used would never be this minor, and she felt no massive amount of Honkai Energy from the fire, which completely contradicted the nature of the Plague Gem.
Hearing Fu Hua's voice, Kiana paused, reason and emotion clashing constantly.
She knew very well that Himeko's survival rate in the battle against the Herrscher of Void was slim. Moreover, even if she hadn't died, she must have been left behind in the Imaginary Space, making it utterly impossible for her to appear in this city. Yet looking at the burning fire, she still couldn't stop herself from fantasizing whether the person who lit those flames might be her.
The flames only appeared after a series of successive explosions, making it more likely a fire triggered by the blast. No matter how swift or scorching it was, it could not bring back the one who had already departed.
"Let's go. Theresa and the others are very likely still in danger."
The high-altitude night wind whipped their hems as Kiana stared blankly at the blaze, struggling for a long time to calm down. Yet she finally gritted her teeth, buried her grief deep within her heart, snuffed out that unrealistic fantasy, and pressed on toward the direction of Theresa and the others.
"Hand the target over. I suppose none of you wish to die here." Piloting the Chris puppet, Su Jue relished the feeling of playing the utter villain. To better fit his current arrogant persona, he specially crafted a silver-white-haired appearance, complete with a cool black mask on his face just like Himeko, while the name Chris was returned to the deceased Chris. Now, he preferred his new moniker—Thousand Calamities.
Naturally, he wasn't the Thousand Calamities of the Flame-Chasers known for "Destruction! Wrath! Decimation!" Though he didn't mind acting crazy to distinguish each puppet's identity, overly intense emotions would interfere with his true self, and getting too deep into a role risked a backlash. Therefore, while portraying Thousand Calamities, he kept things rather rational.
Poor Mei had just been beaten up by Rita, losing even her weapon, only to be ambushed by Su Jue on her way back to the stronghold. Now, she had entirely lost the capacity to resist.
"Mei! How are you?" Facing Su Jue's threat, Theresa and Bronya, who had just caught Mei, treated him as a formidable enemy and immediately began checking Mei's injuries.
Fortunately, though the wounds looked severe, they were not life-threatening. As Theresa breathed a sigh of relief, the Vishnu factor inside her also stabilized from its active state. Su Jue did not seize the opportunity to kill, knowing the price of murdering Mei. His target was only the puppet machine, and fighting the academy group posed too high a risk with no necessity.
"Who are you?" After steadying herself slightly, Theresa attempted to negotiate with Su Jue, but Su Jue had no time for idle chatter. He grabbed a panel door from the ground and hurled it right at them.
Boom—
The heavy cannon on Project Bunny fired instantly, blasting the iron door out of the air. Before Bronya could fire a second shot, however, she spotted a car lifted up by Su Jue. The sheer, brute strength of the Thousand Calamities puppet far surpassed that of other puppets, and he flung the multi-ton vehicle directly at them. Faced with such a heavy target, Bronya's heavy cannon proved helpless, prompting Theresa to summon her exclusive weapon, Oath of Judah, to drag the car down to the ground, where it burst into flames amidst a thunderous crash.
"I will repeat myself: hand the puppet machine over to me." Seeing the high-speed flying car easily controlled by Theresa, Su Jue couldn't help marveling at the S-Rank Valkyrie and Judah; had the three of them coordinated properly, he surely would have lost in a fight.
"No way!" Naturally, they couldn't easily surrender a clue they had worked so hard to find, especially since this little girl, though merely a modified being, was still human in her eyes. She would never push someone else out just to save herself.
"Then I suppose I'll just have to take it myself."
As the words fell, Su Jue grabbed a nearby piece of equipment and smashed it forward, using the moment to close in rapidly. Though the tactic was somewhat underhanded, Su Jue felt no psychological burden.
Sure enough, the moment the equipment drew close, Judah ejected chains to bind it, but Su Jue followed up immediately without giving her any breathing room, throwing a punch straight at Theresa herself.
Clank.
The sound of deforming metal rang out as Project Bunny successfully blocked the punch for Theresa, though its main body warped slightly. Taking advantage of the opening, Theresa maneuvered the chain-gun form of Oath of Judah, aiming its sharp tip straight at Su Jue.
There was no retreat to be made. For Thousand Calamities, pure offense was the greatest gift bestowed upon an enemy.
Far from stepping back, Su Jue leveraged his momentum into a spinning kick—fearing that throwing a punch at the two shorties might cause him to swing wide.
Thud—
Theresa took the kick squarely, sending her flying backward, but the chain-gun was now right upon Su Jue. Fortunately, having played against the Kallen boss countless times in his past life, Su Jue understood the attack patterns of the chain-gun. When facing auto-targeting attacks, the most crucial thing was baiting out the trajectory first.
"Piece of cake..." Su Jue wanted to say that, but after dodging the chain-gun, he found himself facing Bronya's cannon muzzle.
Boom—
A shell detonated, thick smoke instantly billowing outward, obscuring Su Jue's figure.
"Did it work?" Clutching her kicked chest, Theresa coughed twice. Her constitution was formidable, and the kick hadn't caused much damage.
"No, Bronya can already sense the opponent's thermal signature."
Sure enough, as the smoke cleared, a soot-covered Su Jue emerged from within.
Nanobot puppet, kid!
Adding dramatic flair to his thoughts, Su Jue had no intention of dragging things out. Taking advantage of the window while Bronya fired, he closed the distance in an instant and punched Project Bunny.
With a heavy thud, Project Bunny's shield blocked the blow, but being only B-Rank, it could only retreat continuously under Su Jue's heavy, hammering strikes. On the other side, Theresa repeated her tactic, fully unleashing the chain-gun mode of Oath of Judah to shoot toward Su Jue.
"!" Just as the chains were about to pierce Su Jue, Theresa's expression changed drastically, and she quickly veered the chains off target. "Let go of Mei!"
Su Jue wasn't that foolish; with a hostage available, he grabbed Mei directly to use as a human shield. During this time, Bronya finally failed to hold out longer, caught an opening by Su Jue, took a punch to the shoulder, and was grabbed by him.
"Lady Theresa, can you give me the item now?"
Chapter 54: Entering the Password for the First Time
"Despicable scoundrel, let them go!" Seeing Mei and Bronya captured, Theresa grew somewhat anxious, wanting to use Judah to continue attacking yet fearing Su Jue might harm them. For a moment, she stamped her feet in frustration.
Pity that Su Jue held no interest in children; facing Theresa's anger, he felt utterly nothing and even wanted to laugh. It seems you still don't understand the situation. The hostages are in my hands right now, and I have no interest in wasting time with you. Were it not for your status, I could have simply taken the item by force.
This was a lie. In truth, he simply couldn't beat the three of them combined.
"Bastard!" Discovering Su Jue's rigid attitude, a helpless Theresa could only cast a stealthy glance at the puppet machine. Regrettably, the puppet machine wore a huge mask, leaving no expression readable.
Seemingly analyzing the current situation, the puppet machine said in a flat tone, "You two need not worry about my feelings. I am merely a machine, belonging solely to my master. Now that my master is dead, you cannot use me even if you obtain me."
If the puppet machine hadn't spoken, it would have been fine. But by claiming to be merely a machine, it triggered Theresa's emotional empathy, robbing her of her resolve and plunging her into hesitation.
While the stalemate held, Su Jue suddenly frowned. He sensed a sharp, sudden surge in the consumption of the Herrscher core energy on Himeko's end, and the Plague Gem he had placed in the Theater of Domination grew active, as if it would erupt at any moment. Naturally, a gem falling into the hands of the Herrscher of Domination wouldn't be invoked so easily; as his puppet, Himeko required Su Jue's consent to use that power.
Did she get carried away?
He had merely ordered Himeko to stall them, but it now appeared both sides had grown heated in battle. Yet since his own people were being bullied, Su Jue didn't hold back either. After cloaking the energy fluctuations of the gem, he granted Himeko the authorization. The energy he masked would not exhibit the traits of the Plague Gem, and naturally its performance would drop drastically, but the upside was that it allowed Himeko to wield the power of flames.
Having handled Himeko's side, Su Jue switched his consciousness over to Griseo's end.
As the protagonist of this incident, the Herrscher of Void naturally represented the biggest variable. To prevent her from meddling, Su Jue had dispatched Griseo ahead of time to stall Kiana, though it seemed to have yielded no results.
Of course, it was also possible Kiana chose to ignore Griseo's plea for help in order to conceal herself, but the probability of that scenario was extremely low—no one understood better than Su Jue how kindhearted the girl was. Even when heavily eroded by Sirin's consciousness, she would still choose to save others at her own expense. How could such a person choose to look after only herself when someone else needed help?
Unless another factor interfered.
Within the brief second it took Su Jue to switch perspectives, he suddenly felt a jolt of pain in the Thousand Calamities puppet's arm. Frowning, he looked down to find that Mei, previously out of it, had somehow bitten down hard on his arm, her light purple eyes filled with intense rage.
Blood trickled down his arm, yet despite the pain, Su Jue showed no intention of letting go. He grabbed Mei by the collar, hoisting her into the air. Staring at the struggling Mei, his gray eyes hidden beneath the black mask were like a pool of stagnant water, completely devoid of ripples.
"Even though you're injured to this extent, you still dare provoke me." His voice was low, seemingly suppressing anger, but Mei, lacking any fear now, glared right back.
Her strength quickly exhausted, she could only ask in a weak voice, "Where did you... get that hair accessory?"
Su Jue started. He only now realized that Mei had spotted the star-shaped hair accessory he carried with him. Used as a tracking tool for the Plague Gem, it should have lost its purpose after bringing Himeko back, yet on a whim, Su Jue had kept it, using it as a prop for his daily disguise.
At that moment, the star accessory rested in his upper pocket, and when grabbed by Su Jue earlier, Mei must have spotted the familiar ornament.
"Heh... To think you have your own life hanging in the balance and yet still have the mind to care about an enemy's decorations. Do little girls these days truly not fear death?" Though Su Jue himself didn't know why he carried it out of reflex, he would never admit it; otherwise, his cover would be blown the moment Kiana rejoined the main cast.
"That belongs to Kiana... You must know where Kiana is." As the person most familiar with Kiana, Mei could never mistake her belongings. Even suspended by Su Jue with her collar cutting off her breath, she still stubbornly grabbed his arm.
"..." The gray pupils beneath the mask flickered slightly. Finding the struggling Mei deeply uninteresting, Su Jue tossed her casually back to the ground and said coldly, "So what if I do? So what if I don't? Right now, I am the cleaver and you are the fish. The information you seek is right before your eyes, yet other than pleading, you can do nothing."
"Raiden Mei, do you still not understand the reason things turned out this way?"
"All mistakes stem from your weakness."
The final defense shielding Mei's heart was easily torn apart. Looking up at Su Jue towering over her, Mei's vision gradually blurred. She collapsed onto the cold ground, watching powerlessly as Bronya was grabbed by Su Jue with a single hand and Theresa was cornered into a dilemma by threats, while she herself could only lie there utterly defenseless as it all transpired.
Before coming to Sky City, she had loudly proclaimed she would bring Kiana back, striding into battle against Rita full of confidence—only to lose not only her weapon in the end, but also get captured herself, becoming a burden to her teammates.
The torn wounds and fragile body could not mask the piercing pain within her heart.
Regret, despair, and anguish burned inside her like a raging fire.
"I can do nothing!"
"..."
"No, in truth you can do it. You simply lack the courage to face it yet." Just as Mei was consumed by inner torment, Su Jue interrupted her self-loathing. "If you wish to protect, you must have the courage to sacrifice. If you wish for revenge, you must have the resolve to kill your enemies. If you wish to reclaim what you have lost, you must have the determination to cast aside what you already possess."
"We are not enemies. It is simply that your weakness prevents us from communicating on equal terms."
Su Jue's tone was calm, but every word falling into Mei's heart felt like chiseling an opening into the mind sealed by the Herrscher of Thunder. Though the direction remained obscured, the moment that ray of light pierced the night signified the dawn was near.
Of course, Su Jue didn't deliver this speech to build affection the way he did with Kiana; rather, it was because Mei was practically entering the password right in front of his face. Panicking inside, he hurriedly spoke some pleasantries to avoid being targeted by the Herrscher of Thunder later on.
Finishing his piece, Su Jue ignored Raiden Mei further. Having wasted two whole minutes, his patience had been completely ground down.
He no longer intended to give Theresa time to hesitate; if she kept dragging her feet, he might really have to snap one of Bronya's arms. "I will say this one last time: hand the item over!"
Chapter 55: Nameless Wrath
"Leader, hurry and take the puppet machine back to the Hyperion! Kiana is far more important than us; only by finding clues to her can we prevent a greater loss." Though held in Su Jue's grip, Bronya showed zero emotional reaction. Ever since Cocolia subjected her to the X-10 experiment, her emotional module had been damaged. Even though this state of emotional void improved somewhat during her time in St. Freya, she still instinctively processed events using the optimal strategy, remaining completely unbothered by her own safety.
"Once we return to the warship, we can contact Dr. Einstein and the others, and return later to avenge us." While speaking, Bronya even attempted to command Project Bunny to launch an attack on Su Jue, showing no signs of considering the consequences of him tearing up the ticket.
"Tch, plotting out loud while acting like I don't exist?" Increasing the strength in his hand, Su Jue gripped one of Bronya's arms, and just as he prepared to make a move, a sharp long spear suddenly shot through the air from behind him.
Boom—
By a hair's breadth, the Spear of the Void brushed past Su Jue's cheek, piercing straight through the concrete wall before dissolving into Honkai Energy. Amidst this sudden change, Bronya decisively dislocated her own joint with a sharp snap to break free from Su Jue's grasp, drawing a backup weapon from Project Bunny with one hand to fire directly at him.
Rat-tat-tat.
The bullets came densely, yet the threat they posed to Su Jue paled far in comparison to the sneak attack by that Spear of the Void moments earlier.
Rolling swiftly across the ground to dodge the initial volley of bullets, Su Jue advanced instead of retreating, throwing a punch at Bronya. Project Bunny had already suffered heavy damage earlier, and though it blocked the punch for Bronya at the last moment, it could no longer sustain its hovering state and dropped to the ground like scrap metal.
Project Bunny was Seele's gift to Bronya. With Project Bunny heavily battered, she could no longer focus on attacking Su Jue, instead retreating back to Theresa's side along with Mei and the small rabbit. The three gathered together, gazing warily at Su Jue with flickering eyes.
Glancing deeply at them, Su Jue withdrew his gaze, not even looking at the puppet machine, as if a hunter had lost interest in his prey. Yet only he knew the thoughts in his heart. What made him give up wasn't the ambush, but the master of the Spear of the Void.
The moment he saw the Spear of the Void, an unspeakable, complex emotion suddenly welled up within him.
Was it anger over being ambushed? Regret over the flaw in his plan? Or simply because this spear was thrown by that person?
He did not know. Ever since arriving in this world, he had never experienced such an emotion. He had always operated like a weaver stepping across a spiderweb, meticulously laying out his plans.
Precise and rigorous, capable of handling unexpected situations—yet right now, this inexplicable emotion continuously weighed down his heart, like stagnant air trapped in his chest that refused to clear, leaving him suffocatingly stifled.
After several agile leaps, Su Jue exited the stronghold's building, and under the moonlight, a white-haired girl preparing to aim her second strike entered his field of vision.
"Herrscher of Void!"
Gazing at the girl who looked almost identical to the one from days ago, the vexation in Su Jue's heart grew even heavier, feeling as though he had been betrayed—no, they were enemies to begin with; talk of betrayal never applied.
"So that's how it is. So that's how it is. It seems I got too deep into the role."
Realizing the source of his vexation, Su Jue laughed bitterly at himself. Yet he quickly reined in those emotions, gradually channeling his feelings and converting his vexation into pure anger, faithfully playing the role of Thousand Calamities.
The moment the Herrscher of Domination began its performance, Su Jue's personal emotions ceased to matter.
"You deserve to die!" A low, fierce roar broke from his lips. Su Jue grabbed a collapsed pillar beside the wall and hurled it straight at Kiana.
Opposite him, Kiana braced herself like a formidable enemy. Rushing over with all her might, she had caught sight of Su Jue attempting to deal a heavy blow to her friends. Without a second thought, she immediately unleashed an attack using the power of the Herrscher of Void.
"Be careful. He knows your identity and surely understands you." For some reason, the frantic appearance of the man opposite her made Fu Hua feel a sense of familiarity, but her memories spanning fifty thousand years were far too distant, leaving only a lingering sense of déjà vu.
Before you continue