178 A Revelation and a Surprise

(E/D: A bit of clearance. A/N: means Author's note and E/D: means Editor's note. I have seen some people get them mixed up, so, please understand.)

A few days ago...

As Kouro looked at him, Otto who gave a farewell greeting quickly walked away.

He was currently running towards the place where he placed his plane which was several kilometers away from him, right now his mind was filled with questions regarding the man in the purple mask who found him.

'That masked man... Who is he? I feel his purple eyes are really similar to Ashborn's, no, almost exactly the same! Is that man perhaps...'

Otto narrowed his eyes, he could not allow a variable to appear and hinder his plan... Even if that variable was directly related to his good friend!

But he now had to be patient, he needed to listen to Ashborn's reasoning first.

He raised his head and stared at the small one-man airship hidden in a place full of snow.

Otto immediately entered the airship and turned it on.

'Ashborn... I hope you have a good explanation...'

...

The black armor on Kouro's body slowly turned into black smoke before fading away and disappearing completely.

"Hmm... Are you Sagaki?" asked Theresa innocently, she only knew that 'Sagaki' was one of the staff who survived the Lab tower along with his wife Luna.

'This masked man is Sagaki?' thought Welt with a frown, his information was the same as Theresa's besides he knew a few other things.

After all who doesn't know the most talented scientist after Otto?

But if he was so famous like that shouldn't many people know him? But why did most people Kouro met not know his father?

It was because Sagaki himself was not interested in fame and had always kept a low profile, even information about Sagaki had become a top secret that only the Overseer himself could access because of Sagaki's importance.

That's why Kouro didn't know that his father was a very important person to the point that all people like Welt knew his father.

Kouro himself only knew that his father was a talented scientist who was appreciated by Otto.

As for Sakura and Higokumaru... They only felt curious, after all, they knew that Kouro was not Sagaki.

For Siegfried himself, he had actually met Sagaki once, and it was also a rather unpleasant experience for him.

So when he heard that this masked man in front of him was Sagaki, he felt both surprised and curious.

Of course, there was still another possibility that Sirin was lying, so he waited for an answer from this masked man in front of him.

Hearing Welt's question, Kouro finally turned around and gave them all a long look before finally removing his mask.

Seeing them all fall silent after seeing his face, Kouro then said with a calm expression.

"I am not Sagaki."

After saying that he then put his mask back on.

After clearing up a misunderstanding, they finally looked at each other before Theresa could not resist asking, "What should we do now?"

Welt also turned to look at Kouro with a serious expression, "...Why did you let her go?"

Hearing his question, Kouro slowly turned to look at him.

"..."

Seeing Kouro's purple eyes shining brightly, Welt's expression became even more serious and his eyes began to turn red in colour and his Herrscher aura was coming out of his body.

Faint silhouettes of various kinds of military transportation appeared behind him.

"I repeat once again, why did you let her go?"

The atmosphere around them became extremely tense.

Welt knew very well the potential of the Second Herrscher after seeing it for himself if Sirin was given time to grow... She could become humanity's greatest threat!

That's why he asked why Kouro hadn't gone after Sirin. Even judging from his expression now, Welt was unlikely to accept answers like 'because she was a 'child' or 'out of 'pity', or so on.

Sakura and Higokumaru walked next to Kouro, while Theresa and Siegfried walked next to Welt.

Although the four of them had worked together before, in the end, they only knew each other, so they supported the person they were most familiar with.

Theresa and Siegfried looked at Kouro with serious expressions, they were very wary of him considering he was a very strong person, and even they themselves were not sure if they could defeat him.

Kouro who had been staring at Welt for a long time then finally said, "...I can't tell you why... But I can guarantee that I am not your enemy... Is that enough?"

(E/D: Here I was going to put the line, "There are 14 million 6 hundred and 5 possibilities in this war. Guess the rest yourself." But I would have had to change the entire chapter so I didn't.)

He couldn't say that he did that to get more 'points' for his [Job Change Quest].

Welt looked at him deeply before his aura slowly disappeared along with the faint silhouettes behind him.

He raised his glasses before saying calmly, "Alright, I accept your excuse."

After saying that he then extended his hand towards Kouro.

"We haven't had the chance to meet before, my name is Welt Yang, the First Herrscher and Sovereign of the Anti-Entropy organization."

Kouro stared at Welt's hand for a moment before finally extending his hand as well and shaking hands with him.

"Call me Kouro, I am the Herrscher of Death."

'Herrscher of Death?!' Welt thought surprised, he subconsciously glanced at Higokumaru and Sakura.

'Couldn't they all be Herrscher? If this is true then they really are valuable allies.'

Seeing the two of them shake hands, Siegfried and Theresa let out a sigh of relief.

After shaking hands Welt turned to look at them all and said, "Let's return to the Lab tower."

They all nodded their heads and followed Welt.

Kouro raised his head to stare at the moon with a pensive expression.

'I wonder... What kind of new powers will Sirin get... Will it be the same as in the plot? Or something completely new?'

He lowered his head and stared at Welt's back with narrowed eyes.

'No matter what new power she will get... With Welt and the others... I can definitely stop her!'

__

5th February 2000.

"Hah... Hah... Hah..." Sirin was panting with her pupils trembling violently.

She was almost mentally broken from seeing something that no human should see, if not for the 'knowledge' that had been modified by the Will of Honkai to be more acceptable to humans, Sirin's mind would have shattered and she would have gone mad right after she saw the 'shadow'.

Not knowing how much time passed, Sirin slowly became calmer, after digesting the 'knowledge' carefully, she discovered some important information.

She discovered that as long as she did not think of the 'upside-down tree' behind the violet-eyed creature, she would not experience 'fear'.

She did still feel 'fear' towards the violet-eyed creature, but not as much as towards the 'upside-down tree' that could give her 'fear' that could destroy her mind.

The first piece of information that Sirin found very important was that the violet-eyed creature was in fact a human who transformed into a 'Herrscher' and had the title 'Herrscher of Shadows', although Sirin could not see his face due to the mask-like veil of shadow.

Secondly, the Herrscher of Shadows is not the Herrscher chosen by her 'god', this is proven by how the Herrscher fought against the Herrscher of the End.

She really couldn't find the right words to describe their epic battle.

"Woah..." was the only word she could come up with when she saw the fight.

Yes, that 'knowledge' showed Sirin the battle of the two strongest Herrscher in a third perspective.

Given Higokumaru's words regarding the battle that seemed to be equivalent to the cosmic level, it seemed fitting to be called an epic battle.

The proof was the half-destroyed statue she saw outside earlier which turned out to be the remains of the Herrscher of the End.

In that 'knowledge', Sirin saw how the Herrscher of Shadows won that battle easily before taking Herrscher of the End's core and dividing it into four parts.

But upon seeing this, Sirin frowned, she could see that the Herrscher of Shadows' power was already at a god-like level, and with such power, the Herrscher of Shadows should have been able to destroy the core rather than seal it.

'Why would he do that?'

Sirin did not find the answer.

But one thing was certain, the battle had opened her eyes to how powerful a Herrscher could be and... How dangerous a human could be.

Sirin who was thinking then unconsciously remembered Kouro who had purple eyes and a black mask.

'By any chance... Kouro is not Sagaki but the Herrscher of Shadows?'

Thinking of this, Sirin quickly shook her head.

No! That's impossible, the Herrscher of Shadows should have died from 'overload'.

But... Kouro's purple mask and eyes were completely the same as that 'shadow's'.

Sirin quickly memorized Kouro's gestures, tone of voice, nature, and so on.

Was... He the one who inherited the power of the Herrscher of Shadows?

Although Sirin herself did not know how a Herrscher could pass on his power to another person, but it seemed like her final guess was more likely.

After being sure of her guess, she then let out a sigh of relief, after all she didn't want to fight against a Herrscher who could defeat the Herrscher of the End as easily as turning her hand.

'Wait! If Kouro is the one who inherited the power of the Herrscher of Shadows, does that mean he has the core of the Herrscher of Shadows?'

After thinking about this, Sirin finally understood why the god had given her 'knowledge'.

She then raised her head and excitedly said to the 'God' in front of her.

"God! I know what to do now!"

She then struck a pleading pose before saying, "Please give me the power... And I will destroy humanity for you... And I will also capture that Herrscher for you..."

Upon hearing her words, 'God' then stood up from her throne before walking over to Sirin.

'God' then reached out her hand before her index finger touched Sirin's forehead.

Sirin closed her eyes, she felt a new ability emerge within her, her shawl seemed to glow before 4 of each shawl revealed a gem.

Sirin then opened her eyes slowly revealing her golden eyes that had shone brightly.

The gems each had a color, purple, light green, night blue, and red which also represented her new abilities.

The purple colored gem gives her the ability to manipulate thunder and lightning, this is the gem that made Mei the Herrscher of Thunder.

Then the light green colored gem that gives her the ability to manipulate wind, don't think this ability is weak, with this gem Sirin can instantly create powerful tornadoes out of thin air.

Then the night blue gem that gives her the ability to manipulate death and life, this gem is the authority that Kouro has now.

And then the red gem that gives her the ability to manipulate fire whose destructive power is likely equivalent to the Judgement of Shamash.

And Lastly... Sirin opened her palm and revealed a dark yellow gem shard.

It was the core fragment of the Herrscher of the End, God had granted her the ability to become the ruler of all!

Sirin grasped the Herrscher core shard tightly with her eyes shining brightly.

"Just wait Kouro... I'll definitely catch you~"

__

On the other side, in a hospital, in the room of an emergency patient.

A black-haired man accompanied by an old man was sitting looking at an unconscious boy from behind thick glass.

The boy had white hair and his body looked thin and dry.

That boy was 'Hanagami Kouro'.

If it wasn't for the weak breaths that 'Kouro' let out using the respirator, he would have been dead.

The two men looked at 'Kouro' seriously before finally the old man turned to look at the black-haired man next to him and asked in a soft voice.

"Have you thought about it Sagaki?"

Sagaki looked pensive for a long time before sighing, his expression then changed and looked at 'Kouro' with a determined expression.

"...Yes. This is the only way to cure him anyway."

Looking at the determined Sagaki, the old man sighed as if recalling the past before saying, "Huh... Your determination to cure your son really reminds me of someone."

"Oh, right. Otto called me yesterday and told me a very interesting piece of information."  said the old man with his brows slightly furrowed.

"Otto? Didn't you two promise each other not to pick at each other's business, even he is focusing on his plans right now? Why would he suddenly contact you?"

The old man looked at 'Kouro' with his black eyes that suddenly slowly turned a bright purple color.

"Otto said that he met someone similar to me, that person also wore a black mask, had purple eyes, and white hair, that person was also accompanied by Higokumaru and Sakura. Otto even sent me a picture." said the old man in an interested tone while taking out two photos.

The first was a photo of Kouro when he changed into his Herrscher mode, while the other was when he was not using his Herrscher mode.

Sagaki stared at the photo of Kouro in his Herrscher mode with a very serious expression.

"This guy... He seems to have the ability of the Herrscher of Death... But this is strange, didn't Prometheus sequence the Herrscher's appearance according to the previous era? Why did this Herrscher suddenly appear?"

"I don't know, Aponia didn't tell me about this Herrscher, so that means there is only one possibility. This man.... is a Variable." Said the old man.

"Interesting..." muttered the old man.

After that he then stood up and looked at 'Kouro' one last time, "I have to go first, Sagaki, if I don't leave now, Otto will definitely come looking for me, see you later."

The old man then turned to leave leaving Sagaki alone.

Sagaki turned his head to stare at the old man's back before muttering, "Good luck... Ashborn."

[Time remaining: 27 days]

(E/D: Scaramouche or Nahida... or Raiden! I can't choose!)