Chapter Text
Twilight of Time…
An endless field of daisies stretched farther than the eyes could see. A place that one might call heaven. A place where wishes were fulfilled. A place where SHE met the most important person in her life.
In this field of daisies, the Goddess remembered her first memories. Countless petals rose into the air, turning into light. They sang with all their heart, a song about their yearning as they searched endlessly for the light they desired.
They wanted to believe that miracles could come true and they were right. After eons, the goddess finally found the angel that lit up her world.
Tears of mirth flowed down the goddess’s cheeks. On that day her earnest wish finally came true. Reunited with the person she cherished the most, the two vowed to always be there for each other, never again would they be separated.
Their vow became a melody that echoed throughout the world of souls. It was a promise inscribed deeper than a sacrament, more precious than life. That pure promise brought hope that was gathered and the power called a [Miracle].
The power to combat the forces of “decay”.
For a brief moment, The Goddesses merged the world of souls and the real world into one, Allowing humanity to turn the impossible into a possibility and giving humanity a chance to defy their fate.
Using this power the Goddesses guided humanity and struck down their mortal enemy, the Amalgamation of “decay” was no more, and finally, Humanity was freed from their shackles.
Though for the goddesses their journey wasn’t over yet. Their enemy’s remnants still remain, and the Finality of their fight still hangs unresolved. So the two goddesses unraveled the merger.
With a final parting, the two goddesses bid their goodbyes to their closest allies, promising that someday they might come back and visit.
Hand in hand, together the two goddesses left this world.
And the Herrscher witnessed it all happen.
Words couldn’t describe what the Herrscher of Finality had witnessed. For eighty-four thousand years the Herrscher became an observer as the world told her a story.
The Herrscher dreamed about a world similar to her own. In that dream, she witnessed the story of a girl, told from the perspective of the Savior. The girl in the story would later become the goddess, A girl so similar to herself. A girl who took on the burden of the entire world on her shoulders.
In her slumber, the Herrscher witnessed the stories of many worlds the Honkai had plagued.
The story of Venus and how the people flee from the planet to survive. The story of Mars and how the people uploaded their consciousness into a computer to survive. The story of Earth Gakuen and how the people eradicate the Honkai’s EGO. Lastly, The story of her Earth and how the Finality embraced them.
But for both Earths, this wasn’t the Finality of their story. That was why the Savior sought the Herrscher of Finality for help as the new threat arose on their horizon. One that could spell doom to both Earths if they didn’t prepare in advance for an upcoming confrontation as another merger would occur.
This time it was their home planet’s turn and there wasn’t much that they could do to stop it.
“So… After witnessing our story… What do you think, Herrscher of Finality?” The Savior, Gakuen’s Last Herrscher asked.
“Th-This is a lot to take in.” The Herrscher of Finality replied. “But I just have one question.”
“Go ahead.”
“Was it you who made me fall into this dream?” The Herrscher of Finality asked however she didn’t get the answer she had hoped for as the Savior shook her head. “I see.”
“Just because I am a Herrscher like you doesn’t mean I have the power to manipulate a strong being like yourself. Just like the Cocoon of Unwoven I merely took advantage of the situation and asked for help through this dream world that was created to hold your consciousness.” The savior explained.
If what she said was true that meant the only other explanation for the Herrscher of Finality’s deep slumber was. “The Ruler of Will. The one that I saw in your story. This was THEIR doing was it?”
“Most likely.” The Savior replied, confirming both women’s suspicions. “Though, now that you’re waking up. Our time is limited.” As the Savior said that, cracks began to form in the space they were standing on.
“Kiana. Your friends might also be seeing this but in case they didn’t. Warn them. Don’t take the threat of the Ruler of Will lightly even if you’re the Herrscher of Finality now.” The Savior reminded.
The Herrscher of Finality nodded as the figure of the Savior slowly turned into light. “Mhm, I will. Kyuusyou.”
“I know you’re not the Kiana I knew but.” With a sad smile, the Savior took one final glance at the Herrscher. “It’s nice meeting you. Kiana. I hope we can meet again.” With that the Savior vanished, turning into light.
“...Yeah. I hope we do.” The Herrscher of Finality smiled as the space around her crumbled.
24 November 2029
“No development, huh?” A purple-haired woman sighed. Her friend puts her hand on her shoulder, comforting her.
“I’m sure the idiot is probably fine. The doctors didn’t find anything wrong with her.” The gray-haired woman said, reassuring her friend that their friend was okay.
“Let’s just hope so Bronya.” Mei smiled. The two women were visiting their friend, Kiana Kaslana who had been “sleeping” for over four years now.
Einstein and Tesla, two of the brightest minds on Earth couldn’t give any concrete answer to Kiana’s condition.
“I have never seen anything like this before. Her state is like a comatose patient but everything seemed perfectly normal as if she was in regular REM sleep” Einstein stated. As a Herrscher Kiana couldn’t catch many diseases on top of that she was also stuck on the moon for almost six years before she fell into a deep slumber. It was highly unlikely that she caught any earth pathogen in outer space.
The scientists theorized that it might be because her body couldn’t handle all of that Honkai energy but they were mistaken. “H-Huh!? Kiana showed no signs of Honkai degradation at all! Well, this is fortunate at least…This might be the case because she was the Herrscher of Finality and her body became extremely adaptable towards Honkai energy. Just like when you two became a perfect Herrscher. ” Tesla stated.
The only other hypothesis they were left unsolved was that Kiana was influenced by something equal in strength to the Herrscher of Finality or a greater power that’s stronger than the Herrscher of Finality herself. But what could possibly be stronger than a Herrscher of Finality?
‘But would it be possible?’ Mei thought to herself. It wasn’t improbable. The universe is filled with endless possibilities. After all, they weren’t alone in this universe. The invasion from the Sky People was the living proof of that fact.
Thankfully Earth managed to hold its own and ever since that day, Schicksal had been preparing their defenses in case something like that happened again.
A comforting silence hung in the air as the two women accompanied their friend while doing their own task. Bronya worked on her laptop, typing away lines of code for her game development project even though this was technically her holiday. As for Mei, she chose to review some footage of her students’ previous sparring sessions on the tablet she was holding.
It was just uneventful another day until– “Ugh, Why does everything feel so sore? Just how long have I been asleep?” An unexpected yet familiar groan caught the women’s attention.
“Kiana-chan!”
“Kiana!”
The two women simultaneously said, leaving whatever they were working on. Mei and Bronya stood beside the bed as Kiana slowly sat up, looking disoriented.
“Take it easy, Kiana-chan.” Mei said, helping the silver-haired girl sit down.
“Mei senpai, Bronya…” Kiana murmured as the room’s familiar faces gradually came into focus. “There’s something I need to tell all of you about. But can you call Auntie for me?” Kiana requested. Her face looked serious, terrified even. “This is important. Please.”
Mei and Bronya exchanged worried glances, before nodding in unison. The gravity of Kiana’s tone and the fear in Kiana’s eyes hinted at something far more serious.
The room fell into an uneasy silence as Mei dialed Theresa’s number, leaving the two women wondering what Kiana was about to reveal.
“So let me get this straight.” Said a holographic projection of the redhead scientist as she pinched the bridge of her nose, unable to process the story she had just listened to.
“You’re telling me that. The cocoon of Finality isn’t the only ‘Will of Honkai’ out there?” Tesla asked for clarification.
“Yes.” Kiana nodded.
“And that, there’s ANOTHER Will of Honkai on another planet similar to ours?”
“Yep, I saw it with my own eyes. Not directly but as a spectator? I guess you can say that?” Kiana tilted her head, unsure.
“And those people managed to defeat the Will of Honkai, which is an amalgamation of multiple unknown beings from a different universe.”
“Yeah. Kyuushou said it came from its own universe and they've been using Honkai energy from that universe as a source of energy for forty years.”
"But the Will of Honkai or rather the Ruler of Will came back and wanted revenge.”
“Yeah, and Kyuushou said it seemed smarter, more calculative with its actions. Compared to before."
“And that's why it is merging our Earth and their Earth because we're the only other planet that survived and conquered the Honkai phenomenon like them."
"Mhm.” Another nod from Kiana.
“Haa." Tesla sighed, scratching her head. “Oi mophead are you listening to any of this!?" Tesla turned her head towards her blue-haired colleague.
“Miss Kiana's explanation would explain the unusual energy fluctuations that happened for the past few months. However, I didn't expect it because our world was merging with another.” Einstein calmly replied.
“Great. Just exactly the information we need after the Sky People invasion." Tesla sarcastically remarked.
"Sky people?” Kiana asked, tilting her head, confused.
"In simpler terms, they're aliens, Kiana. We managed to repel their invasion four years ago. Welt and Void Archive then traveled through space hoping they could find an answer to the Sky People problem but…” Theresa frowned.
"What happened to Mister Welt?” Kiana asked, concerned.
"We lost contact with him soon after he went to space. We haven't heard anything from him since.” Theresa explained, hearing that Kiana frowned, turning her gaze towards the redhead scientist.
“It's fine, it's fine.” Tesla waved her hand, sighing. "We have bigger problems on our hands now. Welt would probably be fine out there.“
“I could try and locate Mister Welt.” Kiana offered but Tesla turned her down.
“Thanks for the offer, Kiana but right now why don’t you open a portal or some sort of connection to Houkai Gakuen or whatever. Out there Welt is safer than whatever threat we’re going to face anyway.” Tesla said, shrugging her shoulders dismissively.
“Okay so… What do I do now?” Kiana asked.
“I propose that we should gradually reintroduce Honkai energy back to Earth. Valkyries are needed more than ever now.” Einstein proposed an idea to which Theresa agreed.
“Since my niece is now the Herrscher of Finality it should be fine. But what about Herrschers? Kiana, do you think you can create more Herrschers?” Theresa asked.
“Ov-overseer Theresa. Isn’t that a bit too much?” Mei asked, worried about the idea of making people into Herrschers. All previous twelve Herrschers were heralds or rather the shadow of the Herrscher of Finality. While now they knew Herrschers weren’t inherently hostile there was still a chance for them to turn rogue and become a bigger problem for them.
After all, Mei was one of them when she couldn’t control her alter ego. The Herrschers of Ice, Stars, Domination, and Corruption were another example.
“Unlike before we have Kiana as the Herrscher of Finality now. All Herrscher authority directly came from her.” Theresa argued and both of the scientists seemed to agree.
“Th-that’s true.”
“Then to minimize the risk we should choose someone with high Honkai adaptability. Someone that’s mentally stable and someone that we could trust. Also, Mei, this is a matter of survival. We would need all the help we could get.” Theresa added
“I-I understand.” Mei backed down.
“How much time do we have? New Herrschers can be powerful but it would be better if they knew how to utilize their powers to a certain degree.” Bronya asked.
“Kyuusyou said we’d have at least a month,” Kiana answered.
“Alright. We’ll continue to monitor any changes and Kiana, stay there. I’m coming to you.” Einstein ordered. “We need to set up some stuff so that we can communicate with Houkai Gakuen. I’ll explain what you’ll need to do once I get there.” She said as her holographic projection vanished.
“Okay, Dr. Einstein.” Kiana replied.
“Mei, Bronya. You two stay with Kiana.” Theresa ordered.
“Yes.” Mei and Bronya simultaneously answered.
“And Kiana. I know it’s probably not the right time to say it but welcome back.” Theresa said, her tone was softer. Her lips formed into a smile, relieved that her niece was safe and sound.
Kiana let out an awkward laugh. “Ehehe sorry for bringing bad news the moment I woke up.” She said, awkwardly scratching the back of her head with a sheepish grin.
Theresa shook her head. “No one’s blaming you. But thanks to you, we know that our enemy is coming at least. Anyway, talk to you later.” With that, their call ended, leaving a brief silence in its wake. Seems like they would have a lot to do now.
The trio stood together. A bittersweet smile tugged on their lips as they glanced at each other. “Just like the old times huh?” Kiana said with nostalgia in her eyes, trying to lighten up the mood.
Without a word, Mei stepped forward and pulled the silver-haired woman into a tight embrace, as if she was afraid that Kiana would disappear again. “Welcome back, Kiana.” Mei whispered, her voice trembling slightly. “I missed you.”
Kiana felt the warmth of Mei’s embrace envelop her, and she leaned into it as she wrapped her arms around her friend in return. “Mhm… I’m back.” Kiana murmured.
Bronya watched them, her usually stoic expression softening as she gently placed her hand on Kiana’s shoulder. “Idiot. You made us all worry you know.” The grey-haired woman said as Kiana chuckled.
As they waited for the blue-haired scientist to arrive, Mei and Bronya filled Kiana in on everything she had missed over the past six years. In that moment, the trio found comfort in each other’s presence, rekindling the connection they had always shared.
24 December 2029
A month passed since Kiana's awakening. Schicksal had taken her warning seriously, perhaps way too seriously as they prepared for the inevitable war with the Will of Honkai.
With the reintroduction of Honkai energy to Earth’s surface Valkyries’ training was intensified, and moon rings– A bracelet-like object that helped convert excess Honkai energy into regular energy– were mass-produced to combat the effects of Honkai degradation, Three new Herrschers were even created to combat the new threat and recently Schicksal had even passed a martial law to prevent many civilian casualties.
As for Kiana. She was lying down on the moon’s surface, gazing upon her home planet. The mesmerizing blue glow glued her eyes to it. “No matter how much time I look at it, It always looks beautiful.” Kiana murmured.
“I wish I could help everyone down there.” Kiana sighed. “There’s nothing much to do up here!” Being the Herrscher of Finality had its downsides, while Honkai Energy had been reintroduced into Earth’s ecosystem. Kiana’s mere presence on its surface would still cause another eruption.
While it wouldn’t be as bad as the previous eruptions, since there wouldn’t be any Herrschers or Honkai Beasts spawning and causing havoc, there would be a lot of casualties as regular people would still suffer from severe Honkai degradation.
“Even someone from Venus can visit Earth freely. Haa, I envy her.” Since there was a possibility that the Venus bubble world would also be attacked, Griseo visited Earth and offered her help.
Everyone was busy with their own thing and of course, Kiana had her own task of defending the moon. ”Sometimes I wish Auntie would send someone to accompany me.” Kiana frowned. Even if she’s an extrovert who can easily talk to anyone, her days tend to get rather lonely without her friends or family accompanying her on the moon.
Then a sudden tear appeared in the fabric of space, distorting the starry void with its unnatural presence. The rift widened, its edges crackling with raw energy, and without warning, two women were violently ejected from its depths. They tumbled through the vacuum, crash-landing onto the moon’s barren surface, sending up clouds of lunar dust.
Kiana watched in shock. "What… Hey are yo-” The rift continued to pulse ominously, emitting an eerie, otherworldly aura that made Kiana's skin crawl. It froze her in place as her gaze slowly fixated on the rift.
The space surrounding the rift shimmered, distorted by the intense concentration of Honkai energy seeping from it. Kiana instinctively flinched, feeling the malevolent aura washing over her like a suffocating wave. "Just what the hell is happening? Even the cocoon didn’t feel this ominous." she murmured, cold sweat dripping down her forehead as she watched the rift intently.
From within the heart of the rift, something monstrous began to take shape. The creature that emerged was a nightmarish being known as the Ruler of Will, its form both alien and terrifying. Its black skeletal hands gripped the border of the rift, trying to pull itself out of the rift.
Kiana felt a chill run down her spine as The Ruler fixed its gaze on the Herrscher of Finality standing beneath it.
Using the authority of binding, Kiana summoned chains that wrapped around the Ruler’s body, preventing them from crossing over from the rift.
“Auntie! The Ruler of Will is here!” Tapping her finger on her earpiece, Kiana called Theresa. “I’ve immobilized it but I don’t think it’ll last long. What should I do?”
However, Theresa didn’t respond.
So Kiana tried to call her friends. “Mei? Bronya? Senti?” But nobody answered. On a desolate rock devoid of life. Kiana Kaslana was left alone to fend for herself.