Chapter 1: Isolated
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Chapter 1 : Isolated
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Accursed burning flames crackled as it continued to burn the world in total Annihilation.
Mangled corpses roamed the ruined city streets, former humans who were all corrupted by the cruel power of the Honkai. Honkai Beasts wandered both the skies and the surface, finishing off any poor soul that had managed to survive until now. Their presence gave despair to the already burning city, the dark miasmic smoke blackened the once blue sky.
Somewhere in the middle of all of this chaos, three valkyries were fighting relentlessly against the horde of the undead and Honkai Beasts. Where they were once Humanity's greatest protectors, turned into mere prey struggling for their life, each time they tore down one adversary, another two would take its place.
And when hope finally shows itself in the form of reinforcement, whether it was the now destroyed Anti-Entropy or Shickscal. One of the remaining Valkyries cried in joy and hope, seeing help against this seemingly hopeless situation. Only for her hope to crumble as the sound of a fingersnap reverberated throughout the world, disobeying the laws of physics as the sound came from everywhere .
A piercing white lance easily decimated the would-be help, each one of them fell like flies, easily felled by something beyond human. The Valkyrie fell to her knees as she watched them die, her fellow squadmates soon joined her despair as they lost the will to fight. They too, were destroyed upon the whistling sound of an unnatural pale weapon tearing through time like paper.
The yellow amber eyes of a goddess watched emptily as the last vestiges of humanity slowly died under her might.
The one known as the Herrscher Of the Void, looked down on Humanity's last hint of civilization. The very last to struggle and resist her will to destroy humanity. Her presence made way for despair for those who are still alive within the broken city, what city it used to be? It is unknown due to how wrecked it is.
Not that it mattered, what mattered was the destruction of humanity… A foreboding consequence that should have happened many years ago.
"How euphoric ." She didn't feel anything. Watching these vermin cry in anguish and despair.
She sat down on an invisible chair created through her powers, posed down as if she was sitting on a throne befitting her image.
"Humanity… Your existence was a mistake. " She held out a stretched hand. " Each and single one of your actions breed hatred, greed, destruction, suffering and lust. Throughout history, many wars waged for selfish desires and gains, other than the Honkai itself, your very existence is your own enemy."
She snapped her fingers, willing her control over the laws of void itself to conjure a large meteor that will ultimately destroy the last remaining vestiges of humanity. Its massive size towered over a great patch of the land, its shadows looming over like an executioner's axe.
"What was once taken from me, what was once an endless experience of agony upon me. I give it all back to you, Humans."
The Atmosphere screamed, flames and physics taking its place as the meteor began to be engulfed in flame. The world slightly shook from its size, the skies began to darken from its sheer mass.
"Oh sweet, dear Bella. If only you could see this view." Upon finishing her words, the meteor collided with the surface of the planet, no doubt killing every single human left.
The Herrscher felt symphonic, empty even(She was already devoid from the beginning, however this feeling of emptiness something else). It felt as if none of this was real, akin to how most would achieve their goals and feel empty. "Be it as it may, with this. Humanity will be gone and I will serve no more purpose." She lowered her hand, her previous glee suddenly extinguished for whatever reason.
"... " She closed her eyes. " None of this… Feels real, it's like I'm missing something here. "
Every single living being on the planet aside from her perished as the meteor collided with the planet, hellfire gave way as the earth began to crumble from the sheer force of the impact. A feat she should have done in her first awakening, instead of a few small meteors.
" It's as if there's something about this that was wrong. "
Funny, for she is the Queen of Void. She felt void and blank inside… Which was something she already was, the void itself, devoid of all love and compassion–
'Ich Liebe Dich.'
–She shook her head, that past did not count at all, the Herrscher denied all those emotions she felt from the fake illusion.
Having already teleported away somewhere far from dark-comparison to a light show that was Earth, she watched as the planet became wretched in flames, destruction and death shattering the very planet itself and wiping out humanity..
She wanted to laugh, to enjoy and mock humanity for getting what it had coming, which was eventually inevitable, Extinction.
…
And yet, she didn't.
She felt Isolated for whatever reason. An uncharacteristic trait for a Queen such as she. The real Sirin would have basked in the glory of this destruction years ago, but she, who was merely an imitation of the real Sirin, was trapped to coexist with her host, Kiana Kaslana.
Kiana..? Didn't they fight–?
The cores… Wait, it felt like she had them. But they've certainly deserted her in favor of–
"...I̶'l̶l̶ w̶o̶r̶k̶ h̶a̶r̶d̶ t̶o̶ m̶a̶k̶e̶ s̶u̶r̶e̶ t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ w̶o̶n̶'t̶ b̶e̶ a̶ s̶e̶c̶o̶n̶d̶ S̶i̶r̶i̶n̶ i̶n̶ t̶h̶e̶ w̶o̶r̶l̶d̶ –!"
..?!
...
Ah… So that's how it is.
The Queen's eyes fell despondent, hollow and vacant as she realized what the scene she was seeing actually was.
"A mere dream…" She sighed depressingly.
As she said this, cracks in reality started to appear as everything began to whiten brightly.
//—————————————————//
The Ruler of the Void opened her eyes, already regretting the fact she had even woken up. Her body, despite being a Herrscher, felt stiff. She didn't move from her sprawled out position as she continued to stare hatefully at the dark and bright skies– No, calling it a "sky" would be inaccurate.
The Queen sighed as she was met again with the boring sight of the star littered space. A scenery she's regretfully grown accustomed to.
She slowly pushed herself up from the solid-rocky… Poor excuse of a solid-hammock she'd made out of poorly molded rocks, something she had to do by hand for her already crumbling sanity.
As ever, she felt extremely drowsy and lacking in energy. Something that made sense due to her… Lack of resources in the surroundings.
Granted, everything else here was just rocks.
She looked around to see the very same agonizing view of the gigantic meteoroid – One that was bordering the size of a small moon – she was isolated in. Accompanied only by the distant star this rock was orbiting in, something that provided her light(Even if just slightly, the distance between the star and this rock she was on was roughly in between the distance of the Earth and Mars from the sun).
"How cruel… Even in a dream, I can't feel anything anymore.." The once prideful queen hugged her knees to herself, her voice ringing out in space despite being a vacuum, a feat only possible due to her authority over spacetime itself… Pfft.. What authority?
Oh, how far she had fallen, from goddess of destruction to a mere lonely girl in space.
"It's what should have happened, that dream. " She spoke to no one. " Make every single one of them pay for what they've done, and yet…" The Queen didn't have the will to continue on with her one-sided conversation.
`Sirin` detached one arm from her hugging and stretched out, attempting to create a portal to life, a portal to get her out of this isolated hell. Something she's been doing daily(She wasn't sure how much time had passed, there wasn't a clock to tell the time after all.)
A weak and unstable void-portal was brought to life, for a moment `Sirin` dared to hope… Maybe her efforts were finally starting to bear fruits?
She dared it… Until the portal instantly fizzled out of existence.
"...Of course." She sighed again, it was stupid of her to hope for any kind of salvation here.
Weakly, she stood up from her position and wobbled her way to a small opening in the ground that led to a pseudo-cave.
Once she arrived there, she gazed upon it again, her only true companion here… A single subspace lance that had somehow been brought along with her, it provided her a dim light that always lit up the cave inside, a cave full of false-furniture made out of forcefully molded rocks.
Something that definitely did not fit a goddess such as she.
Then again, limping around and walking was something only for mortals. And yet here she was, degraded into a wobbling state. She practically collapsed on the rocky-but-smooth couch she had made.
"...At this point, Death would be a mercy." Technically, she'd tried to kill herself before. However after her `arrival` here it felt as if something changed from her body.
Her nearly extinguished Honkai-Reserves were still there, however it wasn't recuperating at all.
Her authority over Void… That was a complicated topic, she wasn't sure if it was taken away or locked away. Using
She WAS supposed to be dead, not brought to this personal hell that was space.
Sadly, killing yourself was harder when you barely had access to your powers and had the physiology of a Herrscher.
Staring lifelessly at her Subspace lance that was embedded to the ground, her mind lingered to her last moments before she was brought by… Whatever or whoever here.
…
The "Other" Sirin sighed, it seems that in this outcome of the battle, the cores had instead chosen her , completely abandoning her and choosing that white-haired food-thinking oaf. Her faith prevailed rather than hers, with the power of the stones flowing through her she stood a chance no longer.
Taking a glance at that fool, she couldn't help but feel a slight pang of proudness within her. The girl had managed to beat her despite all the obstacles that stood in her way, and had even proven herself enough to be chosen by the cores.
" I will not acknowledge your way of thinking. " Her double-toned voice echoed throughout the halls, resting her hand over her dear blue-dragonic companion. " However. "
" As the victor, you may follow your path. " That girl, Kiana, could have chosen to live as an innocent girl. And yet she chose to bear `Sirin's` sins.
Hmph, be it as it may, she'll probably continue to follow her path… And maybe, succeed in reaching the end of that `Path`. " What say you? "
Feeling the lightness slightly overtaking her, she felt her body starting to evaporate in light.
"It seems that this is the end of the line… Very well. " The Herrscher of the void internally accepted her loss, feeling more enlightened with each second.
She closed her eyes, opening them to see the `Other` Sirin– …No, Kiana one last time. " Struggle till the very end. "
"Because I know you'll eventually succeed as you struggle, you hopeless side of Sirin." She thought internally.
Taking a deep breath and accepting her fate, she said her name, quietly but proudly." Kiana. " And with her last word spoken, she slowly dissipated into nothing. Leaving Kiana alone to think to herself
With her gone, Kiana would be better off now, not having to deal with her existence constantly trying to take control and take over her body. In the end, it was merely for the best that she finally moved on… Looking back, the real Sirin had done a lot of massacring to those who hadn't deserved it other than those… Disgusting vermin that had tortured and experimented on her.
Maybe, but they were still disgusting humans, innocent or not they're all the same in the end.
Then there was that fight with that cheater at the moon, the missiles that killed her alongside who shall not be named, her reawakening within the gem and her time watching over her host.
Every event that had led up to her very last moments…
" Hmph.. Jakoje hauninaje zyccio…"
…
Strange, she didn't think she would still be conscious even in death.
Why is there a strange sensation on her body? As if she's being reconstructed after being destroyed..?
No matter, that's probably the Honkai leaving her.
…
Is she still conscious? How much time has passed already?
…
….
...?
" Normally I would be patient, but how long will death finally take over..? " She said with her eyes closed, something had definitely changed other than the fact she's been falling ever since disappearing in front of Kiana.
Feeling something off, she opened her eyes and was met with colorful lights.
" That's… Strange, I hadn't thought that the afterlife would just be a boring lightshow… Surrounded by small lights and flying aimlessly through what seems to be a poor excuse of a wormhole. " That was indeed strange, was this how dying worked? If so it was strangely bright and a pain in the eyes.
How droll, it's more like a human concert at night here. The falling sensation was another thing though… Was she actually falling?
She was definitely falling… through a strange dimension-like passage…? Similar but also different from how her Portals worked.
Her thoughts were cut off when the "passage" finally reached its end, revealing… Pure darkness littered with stars.
Hold on..! Was she in space!?
As if to answer her, her back collided with solid rock at high speeds, causing her to gasp in pain. Her collision even made a small Void-chan sized crater, the surface wasn't particularly that solid but it was still hard as hell.
" M-My back.. " She convoluted a little, rolling on her back and nursing her back that had the misfortune of meeting surface-kun like a truck. Any other being would have turned into a red stain on the floor if they didn't have the durability of Herrscher after hitting the ground so violently.
That shitty poor excuse of a portal didn't have to hurl her like a volleyball aimed at the ground, now her back feels so much stinging from the pain.
…
Hold on, Pain?
The Honka Goddess Immediately pushed herself up, ignoring the annoying stinging pain in her back and looking at herself. She was still in the body of Kiana Kaslana, given by her long-white hair still being present and her usual armor.
But how? Kiana had already won and she could no longer take over as the fool had emerged victorious from their fight.
She clenched her hands open and close, before pinching her own cheeks.
She felt it, pain.
Pain meant that she was still alive… That or she was in hell.
Probably hell.
" H-Haha…" She laughed weakly, until it turned into a full blown maniacal laughter. " Hahahahah! "
After a few seconds of laughter, she stood up and closed her eyes, taking a deep `breath`.
Before she suddenly screamed in anger.
" WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT FROM ME!? " It wasn't a laughter of joy that she had, it was laughter full of anger, " I've already died thrice, Is that not enough!?" She complained to no one, her voice echoing throughout the vast… Open wasteland she found herself in?
Finally realizing her location, she had indeed confirmed that she was in space, or what she suspected to be `Space` if this wasn't another dimension or reality that just happened to look like deep space. She seemed to be standing on a gigantic meteoroid, not a planet, but one that verged on the side of being a moon, she could tell due to her authoritative powers over spacetime.
What the hell could have brought her here? If it wasn't a `What` then who?
" No matter, If I'm still alive I'll simply go back to Earth and recuperate my strength somehow. " To do what was a question she didn't ask herself, though it was obvious she would try to kill humanity again, how she was in Kiana's body, she didn't question either.
This might even just be their mental mindscape for all she could know, just trapped in a deeper part of the girl's consciousness.
She extended a hand out and willed her powers to life.
Nothing happened.
" ...Huh? "
She tried again by snapping her fingers, but nothing happened again. The Herrscher goddess narrowed her eyes in confusion and snapped once more, nothing again. She kept on trying to use her powers, but not a single hint of it appeared. Her wings were also non-existent from the looks of it, as she couldn't feel or stretch them like a bird would.
Slightly panicking, she dived deep into her inner-self. This was starting to get even more confusing and annoying for her, where was her powers?!
Closing her eyes, she tried to feel anything related to her abilities as the Herrscher of the Void. However, she didn't feel the cores at all, as well as her nearly extinguished Honkai Energy.
Without the Gem of Serenity, she shouldn't even be here right?
Not only that, she couldn't feel her connection to Authority of Void itself as well, it was sort of there, but also not at the same time. Granted, she was still able to speak in a vacuum, as well as feel the sensations of spacetime itself.
But something was preventing her from using or tapping into them.
Opening her eyes once more, she looked around with alarm. Deciding to test the waters, she called out for anyone in this lonely rock, it was obvious someone or something had brought her intentionally. " Come out, whoever or whatever you are. State your business and reasonings for bringing ME here and robbing me of my powers. " As she said this, she waited for an answer.
For a few minutes she stood there, doing nothing, still waiting for an answer from anyone or anything. She theorized that whoever/whatever brought her here could be someone of higher power, being able to rob her of her powers. It might even be the Will of Honkai itself for all she could know, demanding her presence to reward her maybe?
She waited until minutes became half an hour. The Herrscher grit her teeth in annoyance due to the lack of answer from anyone. " Show yourselves already! I tire of WAITING! "
Complete silence… One could almost imagine a random tumbleweed passing by if they were delusional enough.
A tick appeared on the Herrscher's forehead as her eye twitched in annoyance, one could have the patience of a god, but if no one answered you after you asked a question, you would definitely be pissed off.
" ...It seems that no one will be answering me anytime soon. " She decided to kill time by experimenting with herself again, attempting to tap into her powers without success, the Honkai Goddess also scrutinized her body, pondering why she had the form of Kiana Kaslana.
She had even tried to access that Mental Landscape of theirs once more, but was unable to. When she tried contacting her with her mind, no one answered.
After an entire hour had passed, she decided to take a look around by wandering the huge poor-excuse of a moon she'd found herself in and concluded that this place… Was fucking boring, everywhere you turned looked EXACTLY the same.
The longer she was here, the more was infuriated. How long was she going to wait here!?
" Oi! Are you going to just leave me or what?! "
…
Complete Silenc– The Queen kicked a random rock so hard it exploded into space dust, thankfully her Herrscher physiology was still there, that meant enhanced physical capabilities and the lack of need for water and food.
There was a creeping feeling that the Herrscher Queen did not want to acknowledge the more time she spent here, the thought of being trapped in the middle of nowhere, unable to leave or see anyone was a haunting thought even for her.
While wandering around and trying to keep herself distracted as god how much time has passed, she found the crater she had created after having crash landed in this hell, she scoffed at the embarrassing memory and turned to leave.
But not before catching a small glint of orange light, out of curiosity she examined the source of it and found one of her Subspace lances embedded deep into the ground.
" ... Well, would you look at that? Everything isn't as hopeless as it seemed. " She smiled coldly, but behind her mask was relief gone unnoticed.
She pointed her arm at the Subspace Lance and commanded it to her side.
It didn't budge, however.
" Wha-? " She forced her will on the weapon again, ordering to unembed itself and BE A PROPER WEAPON CREATED BY A GODDESS!
It didn't move.
Her already infuriated state fueled by being trapped on a moon-like location with nothing on it was already on her nerves, her powers not working was adding up to that.
Instead of trying to pseudo-telekinesis the weapon, she had gone out of her way to grab the thing by its handle near the glowing orb within it, she pulled as hard as she could and found it barely flinching.
After that, there was a comedic sequence of the goddess trying to pull the lance out in different positions. Until she had finally gotten the damned thing out.
" F-Finally… You svolac of a construct, refusing to obey the orders of… Huff.. your creator ." It turns out that even her stamina was one of the many things that got taken away from her, which made pulling the damn thing out of the ground even harder.
Wielding her lance with one hand, she attempted to siphon the Honkai reserves it had, the result was a small void portal fizzling into existence, small enough to fit one hand in.
The Herrscher of the Void felt relief and uncharacteristic joy from seeing her power finally work, it seemed that all she needed was just a little bit more Honkai-Reserves to access her powers. She smiled and willed the Portal to enlarge while mentally viewing the location she wants the portal to connect to.
Earth.
" That's it! Give way for me to return to my wretched home!" Her smile threatened to split her face as she strained more Honkai-energy. " So that I may recuperate my powers back and challenge Kiana once more! "
The portal widened enough to fit half of her body, The Herrscher of the Void became joyful as this happened.
" Just a bit more!" It widened more.
Ẏ̸̼͝O̵͓͆̍Ũ̶͖͍ ̴͖͝W̶̬̝̕O̵͙̣̅N̶͎͝'̵͎̔̓Ț̶̼̈́͛ ̶͙̂̇͜B̶̼͑Ë̴̼́ ̶̞̚G̶͖̾̃O̴̩̭̾I̵͎͖̐̿N̵͚͂͆Ḡ̶̻͈ ̴̣̓Ȁ̷̢̊N̸̥̠͌Ý̶̹͛W̶̼̐H̷̺̎͜Ȩ̶̼͊R̶͚͙̔̕E̴̪̻͘,̸̡̃ ̴̞̫̓R̵̠͗Ũ̵̪Ḻ̶͐͜Ě̴̜R̵̹̄͌ ̸͎̟̍Ợ̷̒F̴̝́̂ ̸̭͋̽Ţ̷̉͝H̵̘̏͠E̵͙̩̾͠ ̶͇̼̽͝V̶̧̟͝Ơ̶͈̭Ỉ̴͓͘Ḋ̶̊͜.̴̖̩̊
" And I'll– Urk!?! " Suddenly an agonizing pain shot throughout her body, causing her to lose grip of her Subspace Lance. She gasped in pain and held herself, feeling extreme pain coursing through her body as something was suddenly locked away from her.
While in pain, she slowly limped towards the portal reaching out to it.
When suddenly, to her horror, an unfamiliar kind of higher power forcefully closed it. The portal immediately fizzled out of existence after being swallowed by a dark miasmic storm of cloud and mist, closing before `Sirin` could enter it.
The Herrscher's hope of getting out of here cracked ever so slightly, her eyes watched in empty despair as her only way out of her was suddenly snuffed away. She fell to her knees watching where the Portal had previously been in.
Her mouth shook in anger, she shot a glare above, trying to see what was in there that was not.
" YOU! " She screamed in pure anger. " WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!? WHO ARE YOU?! " It was imminent that whatever this thing was, it wasn't the Will Of Honkai for sure. That surge of power that closed her portal was NOT Honkai, she wasn't fully sure if it had any connection to the Honkai as it immediately disappeared.
…
And from that moment on, she spent an untold amount of time alone in this place… To which she dubbed the `Selene` to serve as a distraction. She wasn't sure if that memory of hers was accurate or simply hallucinations for her mind to cope with being in Isolation .
Maybe, this might even be a personal hell made by a higher power for her actions against Humanity. Maybe it was done by that accursed brown-haired old cheater from years ago, so many maybe's, but all of them are mere theories.
The more time she spent staring blankly at her Subspace Lance while sitting on her bed, the more she delved back into her memories, the more she reflected too.
Humanity… That disgusting word and its weight it carries, they were the ones to have brought the Second Eruption upon themselves right? They took the real Sirin and experimented on her, made her life terrible, killed those dear to her and caused her awakening as the Second Herrscher.
Then again, that was Sirin The Girl , the one who simply wanted revenge for her friends against those who have wronged them. Sirin The Herrscher killed Millions because she saw Humanity as vermin… Great, now she's splitting Sirin into two, she truly has lost her goddamn mind.
She's never really had a good life, huh? Every single moment of it led one thing to another, the only pleasant thing was that illusion of a family.
…Yeah, that memory. She wasn't even flinching from that memory anymore. She'll take anything pleasant at this point.
Will she be simply spending eternity here? That thought IS quite haunting… Her Subspace Lance has just enough Honka-reserve to morph once into something lethal… Maybe, death wouldn't be so bad right now… She was supposed to be dead… To begin with,
`Sirin's` eyes slowly dropped due to sleepiness, Herrschers didn't need sleep, they never required as they were purely made out of Honkai, even exceptions like Kiana who had somewhat of a combination between A Herrscher and a Human in her current state…. Or well, at least the last time she saw her.
Who knows, maybe that girl had transcended into another Herrscher during her absence in isolation.
That girl, is she still struggling to this day just as she had told her? Is she still fighting for her path? The very same she had refused to acknowledge?
Sounds fun, probably better than being eternally alone in this hell. Stuck and unable to leave, not even able to die by normal means because of your own abilities, even if she did die, there wasn't any telling whether that thing that trapped her here wouldn't just revive or bring her back again.
Chertov ad…
`Sirin` Eventually fell asleep on her makeshift bed, hoping to hibernate and sleep long enough for her to dream of something again, maybe something more pleasant, dreaming of destroying humanity over and over lost its thrill a long time ago.
Tendrils of blackness took over as she slowly lost her consciousness to deep slumber once more, likely to hibernate for an untold amount of times…
//—————————————————//
…?
–OOOOOOONKKK!
….!?
`Sirin` was rudely interrupted from her dreamless slumber when she felt a shift in spacetime, she practically jumped out of her rock-hard bed and ran outside her cave – But not before grabbing her Subspace Lance – Running towards the direction where she felt shift in spacetime, her legs carried her with barely any distance, it seems that her time of sleeping endlessly also made her sluggish – Added up with her degraded levels of stamina, she was basically a weak girl again, she pushed that thought away and glanced upon the stars. Eyes filled with desperation and ill-vested hope.
She waited for a few seconds, widening and keeping her eyes sharpened for the unexpected event.
….ooonnkk!--
"There!" Even with most of her powers gone, she could clearly feel the fabric of space being bent for some kind of pathway, something similar to a road being paved and created seconds ahead while a vehicle drives through it… Wait!
`Sirin` gasped, finally getting a clear connection and idea as to what was causing this shift in space. It's extremely fast, moving faster than lightspeed, it was clearly a vehicle of some sorts. A few thousand light years away, closer to her compared to the neighboring planet this rock was orbiting with.
T-This is it… A chance for her to get out of this prison..! Surely with that speed it's going it would be able to outrun whatever put her here.
Gathering up her already diminishing reserves, she applied a small amount of it to her `lungs` and screamed out. "OVER HERE! HUMANS OR WHATEVER YOU ARE! I-I DEMAND YOU TO HELP ME! " Confident that her half-assed Void traits would allow her voice to reach those piloting the spacecraft.
However, the space-travel vehicle didn't seem to stop at all, at worst, it seemed to be getting even faster. Her eyes widened when she felt another strange occurrence in space time, if before that vehicle had something paving a path for it, it's definitely connected to some kind of `Railing` now.
It was clear to her what it was about to do, they were going to leave.
"W-Wait! I-I apologize for my tone…! Just– " A single droplet of tear dropped from the side of her eye, panic and fear in her voice as her first and probably last chance of getting out of here, from being alone again was now leaving. " D-Don't leave…"
Her eyes slowly lost the remaining life she had in them, she was prepared to just give it all up and let her mind break from the Isolation. She didn't think she could handle it anymore if she saw her last chance to slip out of her hands.
Before she realized, she still had a few remaining Honkai-Reserves inside her Subspace Lance… Maybe, just maybe! If she used that last remaining reserve and infused it with her own, even if it caused her to lose more of her powers and life to morph her Subspace Lance to a long rope and made portals for it to skip the vast distance, would she be able to grapple onto it?
It was hopeful thinking, but it was the last thing she had left!
Taking a deep breath and focusing her entire being into her Lance, she took aim and let the power of Honkai course through her body. Pain suddenly coursed through her body when she felt that Eldritch Bastard trying to prevent her from leaving again.
Ỳ̷̖o̴̖͒u̴̥͐ ̶̄͜w̷̎ͅỏ̴̳n̸̞̿'̷̣͝t̸͙͝ ̴̼̈b̷͖͗e̵̟̓ ̸̱͝l̵̝̐e̷̗̿a̵̺̕v̸͓̑i̵̢̚n̵̫̎g̶͖̿ ̴͔̃t̵̺͑h̸̲͋ȋ̵͓s̷̱̏ ̶̱̆p̵̬̊l̴̜̀å̸͓c̵͔̏e̷̘͗,̸̬̌ ̷̻̾O̴̪̍'̵͍̾F̶̹͛ö̵̲́r̶͍̈́ḿ̸̥è̵̪r̷̪͆ ̵͍̍Ǵ̴̞ọ̶̆d̴͉͌d̴̞̊e̸̝̐s̶͕̑s̵̈ͅ,̵̖̿ ̷̰͌f̶̙́o̷͕͠r̸̙̂ ̸͍͠y̷̢̿ö̵̙́ǘ̶̳ ̵̣̅a̸̼͌r̷͎̍e̷̫͑ ̸͜͠n̸̢̉ó̶̭w̸̠͋ ̵͙͠m̵̭̊y̴̫̿ ̴̡̏p̸̺͊l̶͉͐ǎ̵̤y̷̻͌t̶̻͐h̵̙̕i̶͈̋n̴͓̾g̴̺͌.̷̻̂
The more she focused on her Honkai Energy, the more a miasmic dark mist surrounded her – The very same that had closed her Portal in her first arrival here. – Each millisecond was pure agony for her, whatever kind of entity that trapped her here really wanted her to be imprisoned.
Like hell she was having that…!
"--GAH!?" An unbearable pain suddenly coursed through her, stacking with the already agonizing sensation made by the black miasma. She nearly lost her grip from the pain, along with her consciousness almost going blank.
G̸̬͗̓̈́i̷̟̒v̵̜̮̈́̈́ͅĕ̸̦ ̸͉̘̙̓u̷̘͍̘͛̒̈́p̷͍͍͝,̸̡̌ ̴̟̲̱̃ÿ̷̗́͐͌ȯ̶͎ȗ̷̘̟ ̶̢͘͝ã̷̞ȓ̶̩̟ȩ̴͖̀̎ ̶̲̬͠f̴̱̃̃͑o̵͉̜͌r̶̳͕̠̈́͌͝e̷̬̱̎́v̴̙̐͑ê̸̢̱͝r̵̳͎͎̐͆͠ ̷̠̖͚̂̋͋ẽ̸̲̱̗n̴̡͙̅̀̍ͅṯ̸̔̓r̷̲̉̀̽ä̵͎́p̷͚͛p̵̡̥̰͆e̵̟͌̾̔ͅd̷̳̀͊ ̵̯́͑͜ͅh̶͈͂̓ë̸̢̛̠́͆r̶̯͌ͅe̴̤̓̃̂.̶̠̬̬́̾́
"D-Don't want to..! I'm a…"
A̴̾̚ͅ ̸̧̧͛̂̍Ģ̷̥͂͠o̸̰̩͂ḑ̵̝͎̋d̴̤̭̐é̷̻̿s̴͎̭̒͐̕s̵̞͋?̶̩̜̩́̉͠ ̴͎̳̤̒N̴̰͎̺̄̔o̸̝͎̙̔͒̈ ̶̦̀̿l̴̻̮̮̎̀̃o̷̝̦̅n̸͙̲̾̌̎͜ǵ̸̼̘̳͠e̷̘̎̚͠r̶̜̠̿̒ ̶̧̈́͜y̷͉̰̏̿ő̷̻̻̄̃ù̵̧̩̇̎ ̵̼̀̀͘a̸̝͂͝r̴̼͙̲̾e̶̥͍̥͌ ̵̢͙̈̈́̂ö̴͍̋n̶͖͛̀̾ĕ̵̜͕,̷͍͍͝ ̴̝͚̊f̸̢̄̆̔o̶̙̞̮͒͐͘r̷̘̩͌̕ ̸͖̘͆̐̔ẏ̵͚o̵̻̐̚u̶͚̯̓̽̕ͅ ̵̘͚͐͠a̵̙̠͊̀͝r̴̨̤͗̿e̶̡͍̮̒ ̶̤̿ń̴̳̙̅̎ọ̴̭̘̈́̿̈́ ̶͉̊̾̐m̶̢̛̜̄̔ȍ̶̬̚͜r̷̛̲̲̉e̸͇̬͊̄ ̶̣͉͆d̴̡̪́̕i̵͙͈͑͘f̵̱̣̀ḟ̸͓̬̽e̴̳̪͋͒r̸͉̮̭̀̍̉ḛ̴̦͂͆ň̴̝̟͛͜t̸̩̎̑ ̷͍́t̸̻̪͊̍h̶̬̉̒̈â̷̰n̶̨̜̆̉̈́ ̸̬̻͑̕a̵̤̰̅ ̴̼͌͑H̵͚̋͌u̶̥̳̺̾ṃ̸̙̓͝a̵̝̲̅n̸͓͌̉ ̶̦̈́͌̉ņ̴̑͒̿o̸̫͇̭̒̕ẉ̷͕͛͝.̵̥͇͗̋̎
"S-SHUT UP! Do not… compare me to those v-vermin!" She gasped through the pain.
W̶͕͆h̵̬̑a̶̦̕t̷̙̚ ̷̡̛y̸͘͜ò̴̠u̷̹͒ ̴̯͑u̵͙͘ṣ̷̄ẽ̸̢ḏ̷͌ ̴̥̾ṱ̴̈ö̸̻́ ̵̧͘ḃ̷͖e̴͇̐,̶̤͗ ̸̻̔n̶̡͑o̵̝̽t̸̟̚ ̸̈́͜a̴̯͗n̷͂͜y̵̲̋ ̸̤̓m̸͇̅o̶͚̕ŗ̵̋ë̴̝́.̸̱̃ ̵͉̊T̶̠̒h̷̼̊ȅ̵̬ ̵͎̋`̵͚͠Y̶͗͜o̶͎͗u̷͖͛`̴̰̍ ̴̧̉n̵̩̊o̶̧͝w̵̰͂ ̵̱̐î̴̠s̸͇͘ ̷̤̽n̵͉̂ö̷̠́t̵̮̀h̷̚͜ĩ̸̟n̶͎̓g̴̱͌ ̶̹̆m̵̻̃ò̸̜r̸̘͌ẽ̷̮ ̵̕ͅt̵̫̅ḥ̸̉ạ̸͑n̵̞̍ ̷̧̿a̴̢͐ň̵̹ ̷̹̉a̵̕ͅb̷̹̐o̷͖̐v̷͈̈ë̷̤́ ̸̱͂á̸͔v̵̱̂e̶͖̽r̵̜͠a̷̠͋g̶̘̾ę̴́ ̴̢̀h̵̓͜ǔ̶̱m̶̃͜ă̷̙ǹ̷̯ ̴̡̑í̵̺n̶͖̈́s̴̈͜i̶͚̓d̸̹̎e̸̘̾ ̴̧͋a̸͖͌ ̴͈̃f̸̡̄l̶͓̕ǐ̵̢e̴̯̎ş̵̈́'̸͚̑ ̸̨̉b̴͙̾o̷̪͗d̵̮̕y̸͚͘.̴̭̾ ̶̺̕E̷͈͋v̴̠̔ê̵͍n̷̡͆ ̶̰̐ȉ̵̮f̴̼̿ ̶̟̚a̷̦͝ ̷̩́f̸̙̚r̶̢̔a̸̗͑c̷̬̐t̷͜͝ï̶̯o̵̮̚n̵͇̕ ̸̙͝ȏ̵͓f̶͎̓ ̶͕͌y̸̖͠o̵̻͘u̸͉̍r̷̗͘ ̸͚̐p̷̯̈́o̶̮͗w̷̳͆e̸͇̕r̷̖͋ ̵͇̈́r̵̳̄é̴̼m̴̩̊a̴̾͜i̵̜̊n̷̠̓ė̵͙d̶̬̓.̵̘͑ ̶͙̐T̴͎́h̷̢͒a̵̝̕t̴̲̉ ̶̽ͅv̸̙̉e̵͜͠s̸̰̑s̴͉͑ȅ̴̘l̸̞̑ ̸̣́ì̶̟s̶̰͛ ̵̧͝b̸͚̓ù̷̫ṯ̶̏ ̷̫̀a̵̝̿ ̶̮̋m̷̤͒ë̸̮́r̶͇̚ė̸͙ ̸͚̿f̷͍͆r̵̗͛a̷͙̽c̸͔̈́ţ̸̐i̶̧̐o̶̩̚n̴̺̕ ̴͈̿ȏ̵͜f̴͎̊ ̷͚͘ȳ̶͚o̸̭͑u̵̦͒r̵̳̃ ̴̙̍r̶̳̕e̷̖̕a̵̖͒l̶̦̋ ̴̪̽p̶̬̋o̷̺̚ẉ̶̉è̷̱r̸̙̎,̶̝̔ ̷̨̀s̶͔͒o̷̞̾m̵̢̒ė̵͈t̸̎ͅh̸̠̑i̵̗̓n̸̨̋ǵ̶͎ ̵̦̈y̸̩̚o̴̻͗ụ̸͐'̵͗͜ḷ̷̀l̵̯͆ ̴̭̐n̶͚̉ȇ̷̹v̷̩͒e̸̬̽r̶̮͒ ̶̱͌ȟ̸̰a̶̩͂v̷͔̓ȇ̷̮ ̷̻̚ą̶̍g̶̣̊a̸̦͠ī̴̬ǹ̷̮.̷͎̔
The Herrscher goddess pondered that even for a mere fraction of a second, what did this thing mean by "What you used to be, not anymore."!? Does it mean that it degraded her into a weaker copy of her `form` that she used to fight Kiana!?!
Her concentration fell short, her gathered Honkai-Energy was immediately cut off as her body and mind finally reached its limit due to the pain.
" N-No.. Please! Don't leave! " She begged inside, her half-closed eyes still locked onto the faraway spacecraft…
H̸o̶w̸,̷ ̶t̸r̴a̵g̵i̵c̸.̶ ̸I̴s̸o̶l̴a̴t̴i̴o̶n̸ ̷t̴r̵u̵l̴y̸ ̵d̴o̸e̷s̶ ̵b̸r̷i̷n̸g̸ ̷o̵u̴t̵ ̴t̸h̸e̴ ̴m̴e̴e̴k̴ ̸i̸n̴s̸i̶d̶e̴ ̶a̵l̶l̴ ̸o̷f̷ ̶u̷s̶.̷
Her eyes slowly closed, her body already falling towards the ground as her consciousness began to fade–
When suddenly, A hammer was swung.
Preserving her will.
Followed by a Choir.
Bringing Harmony to her faded heart.
–W̷̡͙̜̠̔̈́̚Ḩ̵͙̝̓A̴̘̔̄͘ͅͅȚ̸̦̜̦̈!̸̬̳́?̴̮͖̭̳̑͐̉̈́̇
Her eyes lit up with hope, opening them and locking her eyesight on the spacecraft riding on the `Railing`. With a shout of determination, she let out a warcry and threw the Subspace Lance. It morphed into a white garment-like cloth and extended beyond, followed by multiple miniature portals opening and connecting towards one another.
Her hope was rekindled when she felt her trustworthy Lance-turned-Grappling hook connect to the faster than light vehicle.
With a surprised gasp, she was suddenly pulled with the morphed lance, her steel-grips holding onto dear life.
Her miniature portals expanded even by just a little enough for her to dive through them as she clung onto the lifeline, she could tell that it was an intervention by someone, by who? She didn't know, but she was grateful for them. Not really having thought the plan out further if she could fit through the Portals or not.
Just like that, the Herrscher Goddess finally managed to leave the accursed prisonlike moon. Taking a hike alongside the `Astral Express` as it traveled through worlds via the `Rails of Akivilli`
//—————————————————//
Isolation examined its reality-fractured metaphorical hand, a mark of Hammer Preserved its hand.
Its gaze landed on the two equal entities, its metaphysical form giving them a glare as its plans were interrupted by two fellow Aeons.
Preservation cared not for whoever this unknown Aeon was, but its presence disturbed Conservation throughout the universe through loneliness and distress.
Harmony floated nearby, having felt the great struggle of someone who had already gone through enough. Upon seeing them, Harmony wished Peace within their hearts one last time.
Both Aeons stood in the way of Isolation.
Due to being outnumbered, it had decided to flee into the unknown, using its application concept of being Forgotten in Isolation.
…
From afar, Destruction gave out an unimpressed scoff. That fool had nearly botched their alliance and plans.
//—————————————————//
Okay, maybe this wasn't the best type of traversal she'd ever have. But she'll take this anyday over being trapped eternally on a fucking moon.
Sirin narrowed her eyes in pain, she hadn't noticed herself salivating blood after throwing her Subspace Lance. Probably another change in her caused by that thing, she'll simply save that thought for later if she manages to LIVE AAAAFTEERR THISSS!
"GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE–" Sirin screamed like a child, holding onto the morphed Lance as she flew across spacetime itself. After a few minutes prior to escaping the Moon-like Isolated Prison, she decreased the length of her Subspace Lance morph to get a closer look at the vehicle she was hiking a ride in.
To her surprise, the damned-thing looked like one of those old-trains from the human 1900's movies.
Her theory and description of a vehicle riding on a `Rail` was spot on it seems, strange as it may be. But for now, she needed to find a way to try and get inside the damn thing! Otherwise the Subspace Lance might accidentally snap in two and send her flying to deep space. That would literally be worse than being stuck in a gigantic meteoroid, since she would just be floating around until she stopped thinking.
Slowly closing the distance between her and the Space-Train, she gripped her Subspace Lance with weakening strength, at the speed they were going, she was likely to lose grip if she wasn't careful.
"J-Just a little more..!--"
Like a seemingly unending stream of misfortune, `Sirin` was startled when the Space-train-thingy suddenly, and I mean suddenly stopped. Physicals gone forgotten whatsoever.
"Uwah!? UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"
And even if the train ignored the law of inertia, the impromptu rope-Subspace Lance she was holding onto did not. Although she could have simply solidified it, she didn't have any Honkai-reserves left.
And caused her to go flying towards the stationary train that was now parked above a greenery planet.
//—————————————————//
The Astral Express, a grand technological creation with the power of Akivili, the Aeon of Trailblaze finished its FTL traveling as it parked near a planet.
Inside was a small but close and joyful family of passengers, all with pasts and lives of their own. Each carrying a friendly personality and trait one wouldn't mind having friends with.
A pinkish haired and bubbly girl fell on her ass inside the Express after losing her balance.
"Ow…" March massaged her rear upon failing her challenge of standing up as the Train finished its hyperspeed travel. "One of these days, I'll definitely get it."
A soft chuckle from nearby as a beautiful, red-haired and strikingly familiar girl walked towards her, "While it is a simple fun challenge, be sure to be careful, March." She sipped on a cup of coffee after.
"Hehe, I'll be sure to remember that." March answered to the woman, Himeko. The very same but also different Himeko from a certain universe that we are all familiar with.
"Here we are everyone, Erde-IIX. It's still flourishing as the reports had stated before." A middle aged man(Isn't he 80 or somethin'?) stated from the side, staring through the Express' reinforced tinted glasses and looking at the beautiful clean planet below.
Welt Yang, smiled as he took his eyes away from the planet's view and nodded to the rest of the crew. From the quarters section, a raven-haired man wearing Xianzhou-garments walked into the scene and sighed. Probably knowing already what March had tried again.
"Ah, Dan Heng. You're just in time."
"Indeed I am, hello everyone." Dan Heng greeted, finally finishing his duties on the databank inside the Astral Express.
"Mr Welt, is that where we're going next?" March chidded, practically bouncing next to Welt's side. Looking tranced at the beauty of the planet.
Welt nodded, "There doesn't seem to be any signs of a Stellaron here, so a Trailblazing Mission wouldn't be in the table for now."
"Aww.. But that sucks! Why'd we even stop here?"
Himeko stood next to them and calmly sipped her coffee. "Supplies, lately we've been running out of food… And coffee."
"I concur, though less on the coffee." Dan Heng agreed, while Himeko simply chuckled at his ignorance of the topic about coffee.
" Passengers onboard! We've arrived at our destination! We'll be here for some time so finish what you must! " A cute cuddly voice of a certain mascot answered through the Express' Announcement systems.
"Well, you heard our Conductor." Welt smiled. "Don't worry March, I'm told that the view here is quite luxurious. That should make up for the lack of a mission today."
March beamed at this, a good set of pictures doesn't sound too bad after all! The rest of the crew basically went with their usual routine and packed their equipment, the rest of them preparing to drop down on the Express.
All with the exception of Pom-Pom and Himeko who both had to watch over the Express.
Welt and Dan Heng were at the side talking to Himeko while waiting for March to finish preparing. While packing her equipment, March prepared her newly-bought bunny bag for the journey at Erden-IIX as well as a camera she always had on her person.
"Hehe.. I bet there's going to be some cute anima-" Bonk! "Huh?"
March was cut off from her musings when she heard the sound of something hitting the Astral's glass like a bird on a windshield.
Angling her head towards the source of the sound, March gave out a startled gasp upon seeing a white-haired woman with depressed eyes — Rolled back eyes? Was she unconscious? Wait no she's definitely dead right? — She balked at this and silently gestured for the others to come look, of course they didn't because they were busy talking with Himeko.
"W-W-W-Wha…"
To her horror, the woman's terrifying set of cross-haired eyes landed on her. "
"L-Lemmeee In.." The mysterious scary lady said with bloodshot eyes.
Of course, being a proud and brave Trailblazer, March did the first thing that came to her mind.
Scream.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK–" March recoiled back as the White-haired woman seemingly swiped from the glass and fell… down? Hold on they were in space! That or they were close enough for the planet's atmosphere enough for gravity to pull them in.
Wait! That's not the point though!
The rest of the Astral crew immediately whiplashed towards March's general direction and called out to her name, asking what had happened.
"T-T-T-There was a girl just now!" March pointed outside, "She was like, sort of dead but also not!"
Dan Heng cautiously drew near the glass pane and looked around. Upon seeing that there was no one there, he gave her an unamused look. "March, there's no one here."
"I swear someone was in there! They even had scary eyes!"
"Now, now, calm down March. I'm sure it was a mere fluke from your eyes." Himeko put a reassuring hand on March's shoulder. "I'm quite confident that there's not many people who could survive the vacuum of space… Except for a certain someone." She side-eyed Welt on that last part, causing the man to chuckle.
"No, I'm sure someone was there!" March claimed.
Seeing that March might be serious, Welt decided to step in and ask questions. "Are you sure someone was here March?"
"MHM!" March nodded furiously.
"What did she look like?" Welt asked curiously.
March complied and immediately went to describe the girl she saw. "S-She had long white hair, some weird space white armor and amber eyes!"
So far, nothing out of the norm. But that description did bring up a few curiosities in Welt's mind.
"Anything else?"
March paused, putting a hand on her chin. Before she remembered two distinct traits from her short meeting with the mystery girl. "Her eyes had some weird cross-hairs on them, and her voice was like… Everywhere? That totally spooked me out."
She frowned for a second while explaining."Although, she looked like she was malnourished and dying though…"
Welt smiled at March's kindness, already knowing what's on her mind. With his curiosity being satisfied he concluded a few ideas.. This might be a unique case too, of someone else being frozen in space again. "I see, I see. We'll be sure to check before we head out."
Welt gave a nod to Dan Heng and Himeko, the other two already have a few ideas of their own. He turned to leave when Welt suddenly remembered quite an informative description from March.
Wait, pause .
What did March just say?
"March, could you say that again?"
He turned back to March, the girl seemingly confused but complied again. "Y-Yellow eyes with cross hair symbol..? Spacy voice that felt like it's everywhere?"
"Cheater!"
Amber eyes, Cross-hair symbol, voice that shifted spacetime.
Anything March said regarding about the mysterious girl on the verge of death went forgotten as the man hyperfixated on more pressing tidbits of information.
"..." Welt didn't say anything for a few seconds after that, seemingly frozen. One could even imagine his eyes completely going white.
"Is there anything wrong, Welt?" Himeko asked worriedly.
After another few seconds, Welt recollected himself and stood up straight. The other members of the family looked at him in confusion and worry as the man didn't say anything for a good minute.
No words needed to be said, there was a chance it might not be the same person considering she was dead, but if the off-chance that it was her then..
He finally snapped out of his trance and said the first thing that came out of his mind. "Fuck me."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone