173 The Awakening of The Second Herrscher
Kouro who had removed his mask looked at Higokumaru whose expression was blank before asking in a deep voice.
"Who am I? Do you know who I am?"
(E/D: You're asking a guy with amnesia who you are. Are you sure you are okay?)
The face of the man in front of her was completely familiar to her, in fact, when she felt that familiar aura, it was that very face that would always appear in her mind.
But she knew at first it was impossible, even so, a faint hope arose in her heart, and when that hope actually came to her...
Higokumaru seemed to open and close her mouth as if stuttering because there were too many things on her mind to ask, "You... Yo-you... How is that possible?!"
Kouro's face had not changed at all other than disguising himself to look a few years older, currently, Kouro looked like his twenties self.
But because of this disguise, Higokumaru misunderstood and thought that he was KOURO.
Actually, Kouro did deliberately disguise himself as KOURO.
Previously, when he would wear a mask, he thought about what identity he would use if he was in a situation that required him to take off his mask like now.
After all, he wasn't someone who was supposed to be here.
He couldn't use the identity 'Hanagami Kouro', at least until he saw Hanagami Kouro in this world, so the only identity left was...
KOURO the Herrscher of Shadow.
It wasn't that he didn't want to use an identity other than the two above, but he couldn't think of any other identity that could benefit him.
Besides, there was something he wanted to know that required the identity 'KOURO', even though he knew that this identity was extremely risky, but... In the end, he had no other choice.
"Bu-but how? Weren't you already dead back then? I even saw with my own eyes how you breathed your last breath before finally turning into dust!" Higokumaru shouted with a dumbfounded expression, she held her head as if she couldn't believe what she was experiencing now.
Kouro did not pay attention to all her words, he just stared at the panicked Higokumaru before then turning his head to look at the Lab tower and muttered, "Fate is really funny, even now I can't die in peace."
He didn't know how KOURO spoke, but given his expression of sadness, despair, and depression at that time, Kouro thought he could guess how he spoke.
Higokumaru who heard his muttering seemed to have a thinking expression.
She turned to look at Sakura who coincidentally was also looking at her, Higokumaru nodded her head.
Seeing that, Sakura then relaxed her grip on the handle of her katana.
It seems that she really believed that Kouro was KOURO, no, maybe she just doesn't want to think about the possibility that this man in front of her is not KOURO.
Kouro inwardly sighed when he saw that Higokumaru believed him and that he was KOURO.
Why is it that the people he lies to can always easily believe him?
Kouro shook his head when he thought of this.
Higokumaru then turned to look at Kouro for a long time before asking, "...Are you here because of the birth of the Second Herrscher?"
"..." Kouro did not answer, he just stared at her quietly.
He could not directly mention his purpose as to why he was here.
Higokumaru thought that Kouro's silence was a confirmation of her question.
"... Until when can you be here?" asked Higokumaru with a sad expression.
Kouro's eyebrows raised slightly when he heard her question, did Higokumaru know something about his system? But that's impossible! Then what?
Is it possible that the Herrscher of Shadow's ability has something similar to the system's ability?
Kouro quickly shook his head against this possibility, currently, the situation was urgent, and he did not have time to think about this.
He raised his head to look at Higokumaru and Sakura before turning his head to the side to look at the system interface.
[Time remaining: 29 days]
After that, he answered Higokumaru's question, "I still have 29 days left."
"I see... The time is not long." Higokumaru muttered while biting her lips.
Higokumaru's expression looked helpless before finally sighing, she looked at Kouro with a calm expression before asking, "I think, you came to us not just for this, right?"
Kouro nodded and said, "I need your help, I need you to detect the Second Herrscher's location now."
"...Alright. " Higokumaru closed her eyes for a few moments before turning her head in a certain direction with an unsure expression.
"I can sense her aura from that direction about 17 kilometres away, but... Strangely the aura isn't moving at all... Is it just a trick?" muttered Higokumaru.
Kouro's gaze followed the direction Higokumaru was pointing before his eyes seemed to narrow, 'Has Sirin entered the egg? Then this is a problem, her awakening to become a true Herrscher is getting closer! I must stop her quickly!'
Kouro unceremoniously put on his mask before levitating using the [Dominator's Touch] ability, just as he was about to leave, he heard Higokumaru shout from behind him.
"Wait! I want to come with you!"
Kouro stopped, he only glanced at her before saying, "Whatever you want, the important thing is not to get in my way."
After saying that, he flew towards the previously pointed direction at high speed leaving Sakura and Higokumaru behind.
"Let's hurry!" Higokumaru said to Sakura before flying after Kouro.
Sakura who was left behind only blinked her eyes before sighing, after which she ran at the speed of sound following them.
__
Inside the Lab tower, in the Honkai reactor room.
Theresa was carrying the girls who were previously test subjects upstairs to be taken by Luna.
Theresa had previously told Luna the truth about this floor, she really couldn't forget the expression Luna showed when she knew the truth.
Truly, Luna's angry face reminded her of Cecilia, she had even uttered the exact same sentence as her!
After cursing her husband for a full five minutes, Luna offered to look after all the girls until the construction of St. Freya's academy was completed.
'Luna is such a nice lady, I will definitely introduce her to Cecilia, the two of them will definitely get along well.' think Theresa.
After thinking this, Theresa counted the girls one by one before finding something odd.
The number of girls was reduced from before.
After counting again, she was able to confirm that one girl had disappeared! And the missing girl was the girl with long purple hair!
Realizing this, Theresa put on a worried expression before thinking, 'Is this girl's disappearance related to Pat's disappearance?'
Patricia disappeared yesterday in the Honkai reactor room with a weapon and her blood splattered on the floor, but her body was not found.
Thinking about this, she then looked at Einstein who was focused on an object similar to a thermometer in her hand.
"Did you find anything Dr. Einstein?"
"No, there is no sign of a high concentration of Honkai energy here... " Einstein said with her eyes still staring at the detector.
"Wait! I counted the number of these girls and one girl has disappeared, that girl had long purple hair!" said Theresa while wearing a worried expression.
"Probably because the girl was alone and the 'Ghost' had kidnapped her." Einstein said calmly.
After saying that, she seemed to have realized something so quickly turned to look at Welt.
"Welt, can you track her down?"
Welt closed his eyes before saying, "Hmm... I don't sense her presence within this tower."
Einstein's expression did not change when she heard this, she seemed to have expected it, she was looking around before saying, "There are many Honkai remnants here, there are even space distortions around here as well, I estimate that she left through the teleportation portal."
"What?! Teleportation Gate?" said Siegfried with a worried expression.
"We're in trouble if the girl is outside the tower, the weather in Siberia is causing our tracking devices to malfunction." Siegfried continued.
It seemed like Siegfried also realized that the missing girl Theresa mentioned was probably the Second Herrscher.
Siegfried then looked at Welt and Einstein before saying, "I hope you have a solution to this problem."
Einstein looked at him before shaking her head, "The bad news is, our drones aren't working well either."
Just as Siegfried was about to put on a disappointed expression, Einstein turned to look at Theresa while pulling out the bottle containing the remnants of Honkai earlier.
"The good news is, we have a backup plan. Miss Theresa, could you lend us the Oath of Judah?"
...
Theresa stared at the nearby Oath of Judah before turning to look at Einstein.
"Here comes the Oath of Judah, but it can only target enemies within 100 meters."
Einstein uncapped the bottle before glancing at Theresa, "Not really, Miss Theresa. We found from the previous era documents related to the Oath of Judah... The same document also contained details from Siegfried's Judgement of Shamash."
"The two weapons are Divine keys created in the previous era."
After saying that, she then approached the Oath of Judah before giving the remains of the Honkai to the Divine key, after which, she then turned to look at Theresa.
"Please activate the search mode on Judah, Miss Theresa."
"Search mode? I've never heard of that before." Theresa said with a confused expression.
"The divine key is made of Soulium metal that can merge with the user's mind. Think of the target and touch Judah." Einstein explained with sharp eyes.
"Okay! Okay! I got it!" said Theresa with a troubled expression before quickly following Einstein's instructions.
She touched the Oath of Judah before closing her eyes and focusing her mind.
'Oath of Judah! I command you to track down that girl now!'
Judah then glowed brightly with golden chains coming out and moving like a living creature.
At the same time, Judah started shrinking and finally stuck to the back of Theresa's palm.
"Oath of Judah is shrinking! Did I make a mistake? Did I break it? Can the size of the Oath of Judah return to normal?" said Theresa with a panicked expression.
*Swoosh!*
Suddenly, the moving chains slid through the surrounding walls.
Welt and Einstein's expressions did not change when they saw this.
"Actually, Soulium is made of nano-bot material that has a bit of intelligence. In tracking mode, the Soulium inside Judah will turn into chains that function as sensors."
"In tracking mode, Judah can track someone up to a distance of 200 Kilometers."
Theresa was unable to turn her attention to the transformed Judah before sensing something strange.
"One of these sensor chains is giving me an answer... I think I've found the target..."
"Good, then we should get going, Miss Theresa, show us the way." Einstein said.
Welt shifted his glasses before muttering with a resigned expression, "Looks like Otto never taught you how to use the Divine Key properly..."
What he said was true... After all, Theresa often utilized Judah as a bat using her high physical strength, rather than using the chains or spears hidden inside Judah.
Siegfried also smiled helplessly before his expression suddenly changed when he saw the emergency communication screen that suddenly appeared.
Shub-Niggurath's voice could be heard from the screen, ["Emergency signal, Siegfried! A horde of Honkai Beasts has appeared! We see 300 Honkai Beasts in this horde!"]
"Hang in there! I'll be there as soon as I can!" said Siegfried in a hurry.
Just as he was about to go help, Welt tap his shoulder and stopped him.
"Wait, Siegfried! This Honkai Beast's arrival appears to disturb us. We must now focus on finding the girl immediately."
Having said that, he then turned to look at Einstein, "Ein, you will protect the tower with the Snowwolf team. Siegfried and Theresa, you guys follow me and we'll track down the girl."
"Understood." Einstein said and quickly went out to help.
After hearing Welt, Siegfried was able to think clearly before putting on a sober expression and saying, "Welt is right, if that girl has the ability to create a teleportation portal, Salome and Shub cannot help."
...
Outside the tower, Salome and Shub-Niggurath were staring at the horde of Honkai Beasts not far ahead of them with wary expressions.
They could even see that there was an Emperor-type Honkai Beast leading the horde.
"Tsk! With just the two of us here, it's gonna be very difficult to hold off the horde! Damn it! Is Siegfried not going to help?" said Shub-Niggurath while clicking her tongue.
Team Snowwolf members other than Patricia, Shub-Niggurath, Salome and Siegfried, only had supporting roles.
"What else can we do? Siegfried's mission is no less important, we just need to try our best." Salome said calmly, her disk seemingly spinning around her.
"Hm?" Shub-Niggurath realized that there was another person standing facing the Honkai Beast horde with a calm expression.
"Hey, Salome, do you know that girl?" she asked while pointing at a girl not far from them who was holding a black sword.
The girl she was pointing at had long white hair that blended in with the snow, and her eyes were purple like amethyst, in the midst of heavy snowfall, her calm expression looked cold blending in with the cold snow.
"Oi! It's dangerous! You better stay away from here!" Shub-Niggurath shouted to the girl.
Of course, it was Kouro, or rather Kouro's clone disguised as a girl.
'Kouro' turned to stare at her blankly before returning his attention back towards the Honkai Beast horde.
He raised his sword which was suddenly blanketed by a dark blue chill before thrusting it into the ground hard.
*BAM!*
The snowy ground beneath the Honkai Beast horde trembled before a giant, sharp-pointed icicle pierced through all the Honkai Beasts and even the Emperor-type was no exception.
Seeing this, 'Kouro' then pulled out his sword and turned around leaving Salome and Shub-Niggurath looking dumbfounded.
"...Shit... Am I dreaming?" said Salome with her mouth still open.
To be able to make Salome curse, her heart would have to be completely unsettled.
Shub-Niggurath pinched her own cheeks hard before feeling pain, she rubbed her reddened cheeks before saying, "No, this is indeed not a dream."
The two of them then looked at each other before quickly chasing after 'Kouro'.
Einstein who had just arrived saw the sight of the dead Honkai Beast horde impaled on ice with her eyes blinking several times, even she was seen rubbing her eyes as if not believing what she was seeing.
__
At the same time in a place that was not connected to reality.
Sirin was standing still in a dark place, even so, her golden eyes seemed to shine brightly, becoming a light that illuminated the room.
"[Release them all, the fragile cries created from the black sky... Command the power of the Void and make them cry, due to their cruel hearts."]
Sirin smiled, her outfit which had been a thin white dress slowly began to change.
The Second Herrscher had begun her awakening...
(E/D: Ho~ I see a lot of action and drama incoming but... none of that matters if there is no bromance. I mean I can control thanks to the Vicodin and watching Buddha and Jesus be homies in an anime but... there is still this thing. I know all of you want it after all you need to have joe bros in your life man.)
