Chapter 362
Vill-V: "It's clear that the Herrscher of Domination are the evil thoughts of a thousand people, Herrscher composed of negative emotions. The contest in the Theater of Domination is more like a gladiatorial combat of wills."
Kiana: "Then why was I beaten so badly by the Thousand-Man Herrscher at the beginning?"
If it were a battle of wills, wouldn't she have been able to overpower the Thousand-Man Herrscher from the very beginning?
Vill-V: "Don't underestimate human malice. The negative emotions of a thousand people, though far less powerful than pure will, are not something that can be easily ignored."
Elysia: "Kiana's final burst of flame was so pure, so noble, it even amazed me."
Things that are noble and beautiful are always pleasing to people.
Elysia is the kind of person who has a special fondness for beautiful things, especially the beauty of humanity and the nobility of humankind.
Tesla: "So, to defeat the Thousand-Man Herrscher, we still need Kiana?"
It's a battle of wills.
Winning is fine, but losing could turn you into a puppet of the Thousand-Man Herrscher, who would then become your power.
Raiden Mei: "No, I think I can give it a try!"
Bronya: "But Sister Mei, the Thousand-Man Herrscher won't fight you, right? We can't enter the Theater of Domination either."
Raiden Mei: "We can enter from the opposite direction."
Previously, Jackal used the core of the Thousand-Man Herrscher to trace the location of the Theater of Domination in reverse. As long as the principle is understood, it is not difficult to replicate it.
Amber: "Should we devise a plan to deal with the Thousand-Man Herrscher? Our Schicksal should also be involved."
Einstein: "But didn't you say before that with Bishop Otto absent, Schicksal should refrain from any rash actions?"
Amber: "The bishop's backup plan allows the Mandate of Schicksal to proceed normally even in his absence, so there's no need to worry about that."
Durandal: "The purpose of Schicksal is to protect all humanity. Allowing the Herrscher to do evil is contrary to our principles."
If it weren't for the inability to enter the Theater of Domination, Durandal would have already stormed in with the Black Abyss White Flower.
Theresa: "Speaking of entering the Theater of Domination, I think Little Senti should have a way. The Herrscher of Reason's ability should be able to lock onto Thousand-Man Herrscher."
As mentioned in previous footage, the Thousand-Man Herrscher would try to bewitch the Herrscher of Reason, and the same will happen this time.
They might have already come knocking on our door.
Sakura: "Speaking of which, I was thinking that if it weren't for Hua's fraud, Little Senti would probably be fighting with the Thousand-Man Herrscher, right?"
The scam scene was so classic that it remains vivid in my memory to this day.
If Fu Hua had acted a few seconds later, Kiana would have had no chance at all.
Fu Hua: "Ahem, speaking of Little Senti, she ran away from home last time and hasn't come back for several days. I've been looking for her too."
Elysia: "Hua has made Little Senti angry again."
Fu Hua: "I'll apologize properly afterward, but right now the most important thing is to find her."
With Kevin and Otto both missing, everyone could sense that something was wrong.
Fu Hua was very worried about leaving the Herrscher of Reason alone outside.
The Herrscher of Reason: "Ha, Old Timer, at least you've spoken a modicum of human language."
Fu Hua: "Little Senti, you finally replied! Where have you been these past few days?"
The Herrscher of Reason: "What else could we do? Of course, we went to find Otto!"
Chapter 587 The Disaster Did Not Defeat Us
Those Herrscher of Reason stand with their arms crossed, brimming with self-righteousness.
During the Second Honkai War, the Immortal Crimson Bird could have dealt with the Herrscher of the Void in Fenghuang Down, but missed the opportunity due to Otto's scheme. Afterwards, the Immortal Crimson Bird released the Edge of Taixuan, but still failed to kill the Herrscher of the Void.
After releasing the Sword God, the Immortal Crimson Bird fell into a coma. In order to cover the retreat of Bishop Otto and her master, the A-rank Valkyrie Cheng Lixue sacrificed herself to block the Herrscher of the Void.
Those Herrscher of Reason decisively pinned this debt on Otto.
Fu Hua believes that the main responsibility for Cheng Lixue's death lies with her.
The two disagreed, and after the Herrscher of Reason ran away from home, he went to find Otto, vowing to settle scores with his good disciple.
Amber: "You found Bishop Otto? You didn't kill him, did you?"
Having fallen into the hands of the Herrscher of Reason, Amber no longer expected Otto's Soulium to save her life.
Just kill her quickly, then switch bodies and come back. Without the bishop, she's already overwhelmed!
The Herrscher of Reason: "No, I couldn't find Otto at all. I've searched both the Schicksal Headquarters and the World Serpent, but I couldn't find a consciousness of Otto's scale, not even Kevin."
With the combined power of Fenghuang Down and the Herrscher Authority of Consciousness, no one can conceal their own conscious signals under the detection of these two abilities.
Herrscher of Reason says the two are gone, then they are truly gone.
Fu Hua: "But... where can Kevin and Otto go?"
It is not Schicksal, nor of the World Serpent.
They can't exactly go on vacation to the Raven's Island, can they?
The Herrscher of Reason: "How would I know? Otto's nowhere to be found, Kevin's not around either. This isn't fun. I'd rather come back and play with the Old Timer."
The child who ran away from home was on important business, and knew he would be back within two days.
Little Senti Shi is such a good kid!
The image shows a file, belonging to the Herrscher of Domination, and Jian Yun's confession.
Back then, I was just an ordinary middle school student, growing up in the suburbs of Sky-Piercing City. I had never left, but one day, a monster broke into the school and shattered my daily life.
The campus was reduced to ruins. My friends, classmates, and teachers were buried under the rubble. I heard their cries for help grow faint and then fade into silence, and I was powerless to help them.
Perhaps this is the end of my life, perhaps no one will come to save us, I thought to myself, and slowly closed my eyes.
That's when you appeared.
Kiana, do you remember? You smiled and patted my head, saying it was okay, you did a great job, and the rescue would be here soon.
You don't look much older than me, but your smile is firm and radiant, like a ray of light shining on me.
I wiped away my tears and stood up again. The school was in ruins, but at least I was alive. To me at that time, you were the embodiment of hope. I believed that as long as I worked hard, everything would be alright.
But I was wrong.
Having survived, I became the target of everyone's hatred. All the children in the neighborhood attended the same school, and I was the only survivor.
Most families around me lost both parents in that disaster, and they supported and encouraged each other, but my parents and I drifted further and further apart.
Why am I the only one who survives?
Such voices spread little by little, eventually turning into hatred. No one was willing to give us a place to hide, no one was willing to give my parents jobs, and even our application for disaster relief was postponed.
The disaster did not break us; we, as fellow human beings, did!
The mother cried every day, and the once hardworking father began to drink heavily and became irritable.
Until one day, I overheard him muttering to himself while drunk—"If only she had died in that disaster too."
At that moment, it felt as if something inside me had cracked open, and then a voice whispered in my ear, "Welcome to the Theater of Domination!"
The scene shifts to the Theater of Domination.
The Thousand-Man Herrscher was defeated by Kiana and knelt on the ground. Kiana held her greatsword and placed it on the Herrscher's head.
"Lost? Yes, we lost."
The Thousand-Man Herrscher lowered his head and muttered to himself, "But what exactly did we lose to? Did we lose to justice, to hope? Or did we simply lose to power?"
"You wouldn't understand," Kiana said.
"But we want to understand, Kiana, we really envy you, why do you always win?"
"No matter what obstacles you encounter, you will not waver; no matter what dire situation you face, you can turn danger into safety on your own."
Kiana denied it. "I've never been alone."
"But we're not alone," said the Thousand-Man Herrscher. "We clearly have a thousand companions!"
What binds you together is not ideals, understanding, or mutual affection; you are simply gathered together for a common purpose, to vent the same extreme emotions.
Kiana said, "People like that don't deserve to be called companions!"
"I see."
The Thousand-Man Herrscher remained motionless, whispering, "But Kiana, I'll ask you one more time: with your so-called trust, your so-called companions, your so-called protection, can you truly defeat the Honkai?"
"We failed, but the enemy that comes next is far more contradictory and stronger than us. Will you still be able to contend with them with these vague and illusory things then?"
The Thousand-Man Herrscher understood her weakness and the fact that she would inevitably be defeated.
But the Herrscher that followed were different.
The Herrscher of Binding and the Herrscher of Corruption —if those two were to arrive and suppress you with absolute power, how would you resist?
"I won't give up, and this is by no means some unrealistic dream," Kiana said firmly.
A burning passion resided within her, and the four-core greatsword in her hand was proof of the trust she shared with her companions.
The Thousand-Man Herrscher burst into laughter. "Hahaha, Kiana, to be honest, I'm almost convinced by you."
"I envy you guys. You're right, we're nothing but Honkai puppets, bound together by those annoying threads."
"Strange? Which side did I slash on? Is it because I'm about to die that I'm thinking about these weird things?"
The Thousand-Man Herrscher chuckled self-deprecatingly, then looked up and stared into Kiana's blue eyes.
"But Kiana, humanity's malice won't disappear. You'll understand soon enough, no, you've always understood."
"You still have many challenges ahead of you."
The doll lowered its head and remained silent, awaiting its fate with inexplicable uncertainty.
Kiana swung her sword down, striking the last puppet and announcing the end of her reign over the Theater of Domination.
The video ends here.
Kiana: "Jian Yun... she didn't make it."
Even after defeating Thousand-Man Herrscher, he was still somewhat unhappy.
I had assumed that the original forms of the Thousand-Man Herrscher were all frustrated and societal Dominus, but who would have thought they also had their share of heartbreaking stories.
Chapter 588 Thousand-Man Herrscher Attack
Himeko Murata: "Kiana, this isn't your fault. You did the best you could, and that girl named Jian Yun was truly saved by you in the ruins."
Kiana: "I understand, but there are some things I don't quite understand, especially what Jian Yun said."
The Honkai did not defeat us, but our fellow humans did.
Thinking about it carefully, those gathered around her were all companions who were willing to help and support her, which is why she was able to keep hope in her heart.
As an ordinary person, Jian Yun did not have the core of Herrscher, nor was her life involved with the so-called Stigmata or Valkyrie; she was just an ordinary person.
People around them will be jealous of her survival, and will ostracize or even suppress her.
Because they are all very ordinary people, so ordinary that they are easily jealous and hateful, so ordinary that they can be easily defeated by the malice of their own compatriots.
Elysia: "So, that's why I said the Thousand-Man Herrscher is one of the most dangerous Herrscher."
Among the twelve representative Herrscher — the Thousand-Man Herrscher, the Herrscher of Binding, and the Herrscher of Corruption —these three have made the greatest contributions to the destruction of humanity.
The Herrscher of Binding destroyed the Fusion Warrior system, Herrscher of Corruption destroyed humanity's three remaining cities.
The former relied on its special attack against Honkai Energy, while the latter used humanity's own weapons. Only the Thousand-Man Herrscher was truly unique; she was the thorn that pierced civilization, the anthill that caused the collapse of a thousand-mile dike!
Durandal: "There's nothing I can't understand, Kiana. It wasn't your fault. You saved that little girl from the ruins and gave her hope. That's what you did."
Durandal: "As for the subsequent resettlement and reconstruction of families affected by the disaster, that's something the entire Schicksal has to do."
Raven: "So, you're saying you didn't fulfill your Schicksal?"
Amber: "No matter how small the matter, you know that Honkai eruptions occur every day around the world, some large and some small. Schicksal cannot take care of every family; it can only let the Valkyrie convey its will."
A Honkai family may heal with time, but if the will breaks down, then it's truly over.
Theresa: "Should we take special care of that girl named Jian Yun? Or maybe we could help her move?"