Honkai's Thousand Laws, Abducting Kiana at the Start

"And this familiar great Honkai, who do you think caused it?"

Kiana remained silent, looking towards the source of the voice.

As the Theater of Domination collapsed, some hidden secrets could no longer be concealed.

Sirin's consciousness, successfully captured by Su Jue, was not destroyed but bound. Now, with Kiana's awakening, the Herrscher of Void's consciousness also began to recover.

Countless threads wrapped around her body, binding her tightly behind the stage curtains. Her once proud queenly demeanor was gone, and she could only struggle like a caterpillar.

"Sirin? As expected, you wouldn't give up invading my consciousness while I was asleep." The Herrscher of Void's consciousness appearing didn't surprise Kiana. The moment she decided to absorb the Honkai Energy from the Honkai Bomb with her own body, she had already anticipated the Herrscher consciousness's invasion.

But the current Kiana, facing the Herrscher consciousness, wouldn't just flee like before. She knew clearly that as long as her will was strong enough, the Herrscher consciousness couldn't take over her body.

She snapped her fingers, and a small, pitch-black room was constructed. The best way to deal with the Herrscher consciousness was to not listen, not to think. Imprisoning it in the depths of her consciousness couldn't kill it, but it could temporarily prevent herself from being affected.

However, Sirin, about to be locked in the black room, showed no intention of resisting. Instead, the mockery on her face grew even more intense.

"Invasion? No, I'm just a prey that fell into a trap. Before this, aren't you curious why your own mental space is like this?"

Sirin's words struck directly at Kiana's current confusion. She was indeed curious about the changes around her, and Sirin, in her current state, didn't seem to have successfully invaded.

More importantly, in the continuous dreams, she had dreamt of Su Jue. Aside from the messy ones at the beginning, the last dream was too real, and the scenes she had seen before made her feel uneasy.

Su Jue is a Herrscher? How could that be!

"Are you still trying to break my will through the people around me, like you always do? No matter what you say, I won't believe you anymore." As the words fell, the space of the black room opened, and the still-bound Sirin was locked inside.

"Kiana, you and I are one. What I can guess are the thoughts that already exist in your heart."

"Actually, you've long suspected him. But you chose to escape, chose to deceive yourself, and dared not believe."

"You think you can escape? You can't."

"Admit it, Su Jue... he's a monster just like you."

"And the one who gave birth to the Herrscher is you yourself."

The voice finally disappeared, but the oppressive feeling in her heart didn't lessen in the slightest. Instead, it became heavier.

The black room was buried deep within her consciousness. Kiana stood in the center of the stage, dazed for a long time. A beam of light shone down from above, illuminating her figure. The threads used to set up the theater were constantly disintegrating, transforming into Kiana's original mental space.

These strange scenes were about to disappear. Kiana realized this.

She slowly extended her finger, and after some hesitation, touched the threads with her fingertip.

Although they were just threads, Kiana felt a familiar aura—it was Su Jue.

While Kiana's consciousness was asleep, Su Jue had to couple his consciousness with Kiana's to project the Theater of Domination. These threads, in a sense, were the materialization of his consciousness.

Under these circumstances, their minds were closest.

It was precisely because of this that after touching these puppet threads, Kiana could perceive the memories Su Jue had hidden in the depths of his mind.

Kiana didn't understand the principle, but her intuition told her that these threads represented Su Jue's consciousness, and this forced her to accept a fact.

"Those scenes were real, Su Jue's past."

She tried to sense again, but no images appeared this time.

Even though their mental spaces didn't reject each other, the repulsion from their souls was unavoidable. The awakening of the mental space's owner meant that Su Jue's invasive influence on her had become negligible.

Once the grand theater completely collapsed, their consciousness would also be completely severed.

However, the erosion Kiana's body suffered had not yet recovered. Even though her consciousness had awakened, she couldn't wake up. In this state, she could only temporarily stay in her mental space, which was considered a temporary delay in the collapse.

In this extremely quiet environment, even though Kiana tried her best not to overthink, Sirin's previous words echoed incessantly in her mind.

"Herrscher..."

"He lied to me..."

It should have been a very painful feeling, but strangely, Kiana felt that she didn't have much resistance to the fact that Su Jue was a Herrscher.

Instead, the scene that appeared in that vision made her clench her fists tightly.

A sky shrouded in gray mist, Honkai Beasts appearing out of nowhere. During her wandering days, she had seen too many of these.

The Great Honkai!

And Su Jue awakened during that Great Honkai.

She didn't know which Herrscher Su Jue had awakened as. She didn't even dare to recall the look in the young man's eyes in the vision.

Only those who were deeply mired in despair were chosen to become Herrschers. After receiving the memories of the Herrscher of Void, her experience in the Tower of Babylon also became her nightmare. It was precisely because of this that she knew better than anyone how painful that was.

And the one who caused Su Jue to awaken was herself.

He probably recognized me long ago.

Deep darkness gradually gathered, attempting to envelop Kiana once more, just like before, to drown her.

"What a fool." Tears streamed down her cheeks. Kiana opened her palm, and a faint light flickered in her hand.

It was the small flame she had borrowed from Su Jue. As long as it was there, Kiana's mental space would never fall into complete darkness.

"Fool!" No one knew if she was scolding herself or Su Jue, or if both of them were like fools, fumbling their way forward in this dark world.

The theater continued to collapse, but Kiana suddenly reached out, tightly gripping the threads and wrapping them around her arm.

"You come back here!"

Chapter 119: Evacuation

High in the sky, Su Jue, who was still struggling with Durandal, suddenly felt a pang of anxiety. He quickly looked around but found nothing.

According to the intelligence he obtained from Alvit, Schicksal's army would arrive in just over half an hour, leaving him little time, but retreating wouldn't be difficult.

However, this anxiety came too suddenly, as if someone was invading his true self.

His true self?

Igniting the surrounding air once more, Su Jue successfully forced Durandal back. Only then did he discover that his injuries were rapidly healing. Undoubtedly, this was a sign that the Serenity Gem was being used.

But he hadn't used the gem at all. As his connection with the Herrscher gems deepened, he suddenly realized that his affinity with these gems was continuously increasing.

Something was wrong. He was still playing the part of a heavily injured Herrscher. If Otto discovered he could use the Serenity Gem, he would desperately try to capture him. Moreover, most of the Serenity Gem's power was still being used to heal Kiana's injuries. If he started recovering, it meant Kiana was likely in trouble.

He didn't want Kiana to be in trouble, so he immediately channeled the Serenity Gem's healing ability to her. However, as soon as he did, his authority was seized again. It insisted on treating Su Jue first.

The only ones who could contend with him for control of the gem were its original owners. Su Jue looked at the girl in his arms. Even in her sleep, a hint of worry flickered across Kiana's face.

Her consciousness had awakened?

Wait, did he just trick Kiana by playing the victim?

Realizing this possibility, Su Jue immediately sank into his consciousness space. As expected, the theater he had set up in Kiana's mind had completely collapsed, leaving only a small portion of threads connected to the gem.

With the girl's consciousness awakening, Su Jue's control over the gem should have been interrupted. However, not only had it not disappeared, but it was tightening its grip.

He didn't know that in the mental space, Kiana was winding a large bundle of threads around the Serenity Gem. Although her body couldn't yet perceive the outside world, she could feel the changes in his body through Su Jue's threads. Therefore, upon discovering he was injured, she wanted to heal him.

"Su Jue, hang in there!"

Meanwhile, in the outside world, Durandal, who was fighting Su Jue, also noticed the changes in him. He had been heavily injured and on the verge of death moments ago, but now he had recovered more than half of his strength.

The Herrscher of Flames didn't have such strong recovery abilities. Bianca frowned tightly, and the damage caused by the Black Abyss White Flower had also vanished without a trace.

"It's the Serenity Gem." Otto, who had been closely watching the battlefield, immediately provided the answer. He quickly switched back to the previous footage and played it frame by frame.

"She started recovering two minutes ago. The Herrscher of Void might have awakened. Hurry up and end the fight."

At the same time, after hours of travel, Schicksal's Valkyrie transport ships were about to reach Sky City. The pace suddenly became urgent.

The imitation could never truly compete with the original. Even though Su Jue tried his best to refuse, the healing effect only grew stronger. He also discovered with some helplessness that the threads he had placed in Kiana's mental space couldn't be retrieved.

"Wow, you idiot, stop causing trouble."

His plan was suddenly disrupted, and Su Jue was a bit speechless, but fortunately, the impact wasn't significant.

Since the Serenity Gem had already been discovered, he decided to stop pretending.

Raising his arm, the greatsword of flames condensed once more, and this time it was a real greatsword.

Durandal, who had just received Otto's order to go all out, changed her expression slightly as she saw a greatsword nearly 40 meters long descending towards her.

BOOM—

A violent surge of heat erupted again. This was no small disturbance; a large portion of the sky was set ablaze. Bianca, who had been fighting evenly, was immediately suppressed.

Each slash of the giant sword ignited the ground hundreds of meters away. If everyone hadn't already evacuated, the fighting alone would have killed half the city's population.

However, at this moment, a beam cannon shot past his body. Schicksal's forces had finally arrived.

"Tread Snow!" With the original plan in ruins, they had to proceed with Plan B.

The fluffy, orange cat somehow leaped into the sky. Amidst the scorching flames, it suddenly expanded to several meters in length. This was the effect of the potion obtained from the Jackal, but unlike the bare shells of ordinary Honkai Beasts, Tread Snow remained a cat even when enlarged.

Placing Kiana, whom he held in his arms, onto the cat, Tread Snow fled into the distance out of thin air. No matter what, the Queen couldn't be captured. As for Su Jue himself, he intended to have a chat with the Bishop.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Mei, who was blankly watching Kiana being held by someone else, was observing the battle. Upon seeing the arrival of Schicksal's warships, her expression became tense. She could only silently pray that the Thousand Calamities group was somewhat reliable and wouldn't let Schicksal capture Kiana.

"Have you made up your mind, Raiden Mei?" Thousand Calamities found Mei and offered her the lost katana.

"I..." She hesitated. She still didn't fully trust the Thousand Calamities group, but looking at the giant cat that had materialized in the sky and the figure wielding the giant flame greatsword, she finally nodded.

"Excellent. Welcome to the team." Thousand Calamities nimbly hoisted the immobilized Mei onto his shoulder and ran in the direction Tread Snow had fled.

"Wait, what are you guys doing?" Despite the painful jolts, Mei couldn't care less. These people were all lunatics. Judging by their actions, they were planning something big.

"The Queen will be temporarily entrusted to your protection. We hope you won't disappoint us."

In the distant sky, large shadows emerged from the darkness. Benares, who had been toyed with by Su Jue for a long time, finally found Sky City. She immediately sensed Kiana's location and rushed towards the battlefield.

Otto, of course, couldn't miss the sudden change on the battlefield. He immediately realized that the Herrscher of Void intended to escape. A large number of Valkyries were dispatched, and the fleet began to attack at all costs.

Su Jue stood alone in the sky. He had forcibly severed his connection with Kiana and thus lost the power of the gem, relying solely on Griseo's Stigmata ability to stay afloat.

"I heard the Herrscher of Flames has the strongest destructive power. Let me test it then." Su Jue muttered softly, looking at the unyielding Durandal before him.

"Good morning, Sky City."

A thin line suddenly appeared in the dark sky, like a doodle by a mischievous child. However, everyone, whether it was Durandal, the Valkyrie forces, or even those watching Sky City through screens, felt an immense pressure.

Then, the sky turned bright.

Chapter 120: Star Anchor

"With this blazing fire, nothing shall remain uncut."

Amidst the scorching red light, the sky was cleanly split in two, and at the dividing line, the sounds of transport ships exploding continued incessantly.

If not for the timely arrival of Schicksal's Valkyries, this one slash would have likely finished them all off here. Even so, a large portion of the dispatched army was rendered useless. The intense heat was simply too much for ordinary B-rank Valkyries to withstand, leaving them all in critical condition. If not for Schicksal's superior equipment, the flames alone would have claimed their lives.

In Herrscher-level battles, anything below A-rank is merely cannon fodder, and that's even with Su Jue holding back. Now that the citizens of Sky City had been mostly evacuated, he no longer had to worry about casualties. After a brief pause, he once again raised his 40-meter greatsword.

Just as he was preparing to unleash his second strike, a barrage of beam weapons was already aimed at him. To capture a Herrscher, Schicksal had spared no expense, with numerous warships on the scale of the Eos being present.

The energy beams arrived instantly, but as mentioned before, a Herrscher's abilities are all bug-tier. Su Jue simply manipulated the air molecules around him to create convection, causing the gas in the same space to refract light completely differently. While not enough to fully deflect the beams, it was sufficient to create distortions.

It's useless. The Herrscher of Flames, by controlling molecular motion, has essentially grasped the authority over energy weapons.

To counter, one must either stick to conventional material weapons or resort to Honkai energy weapons. The most direct approach, of course, would be to dispatch warriors like Durandal for close-quarters combat and containment.

Unfortunately, even Bianca couldn't withstand this level of attack at the moment. She was directly blasted back to the ground by the wave of flames, and there was no further movement.

Effortlessly neutralizing Schicksal's surprise attack, Su Jue's second slash was already unleashed, this time targeting the remaining warships.

The flowing flames formed by the high temperature filled the sky. Despite it being night, it resembled the fiery clouds of a sunset, igniting the horizon like a scene from a fantasy novel.

Unnoticed, several spatial rifts quietly opened within these flames, swallowing all the damaged warships.

These were all valuable spoils of war for the Kiana organization; how could they be wasted? Once inside the Theater of Domination, all of Schicksal's surveillance facilities would be rendered useless. With another sweep of the Authority of Domination, they could acquire the warships for free.

Thanks to the deterrence of Su Jue's previous slash, Schicksal had largely avoided stationing personnel on the warships to prevent Valkyrie casualties, relying entirely on AI control. Some were even intact, making them effortless acquisitions.

When the game's plot reaches that point, if Dr. Tesla still dares to bombard puppets with warships, he'll make her understand what firepower suppression truly is.

Of course, warships alone aren't enough. There aren't any research-capable puppets yet, so he can't figure them out for now.

Regardless, Su Jue's momentum from these two slashes had been fully established. The mere information of a Herrscher's existence was enough to draw the attention of the entire world. Not to mention that the leader of Kiana was the Herrscher of Void, who had once nearly destroyed the world. An organization founded by two of the strongest Herrschers—the thought alone was terrifying.

Floating in the sky, Su Jue looked down at the earth. A large number of Valkyries were landing in a disheveled manner, like dumplings being dropped into water.