Before the Decisive Battle

"What a pity～, Little Senti is so unlucky, she got scammed by Fu Hua."

Luo Mo shook his head regretfully, but a smile was already brewing in his heart.

Even though he knew what was going to happen all along, it didn't stop him from feeling happy… Speaking of which, based on the Herrscher of Sentience's words, she should be here soon, right?

Perhaps when her powers return?

Anyway, she said that Old Antique hasn't apologized to her yet.

"Well, there's no other way. The situation was urgent at that time, and Fu Hua was desperate to rescue Kiana. It's understandable, right?"

Durandal scratched her cheek, hesitating slightly before speaking.

In her opinion, there shouldn't be anything wrong with Fu Hua's actions, otherwise how could she have rescued Kiana?

"Uh… Durandal-sama, why don't you consider this: why was Fu Hua-sama able to take the power?"

Rita felt a little awkward after hearing Durandal's words. She tried her best to guide her thoughts.

Durandal-sama still needs to improve in this area...

"Because the Herrscher of Sentience was off guard?" Durandal answered instantly.

"…Is it possible… that the Herrscher of Sentience was actually hesitant?"

"Rita, you're saying that the Herrscher of Sentience actually wanted to help Fu Hua?"

"In my opinion, that's the case."

Rita nodded slightly, gradually brightening up.

"But… didn't she refuse at the beginning when Fu Hua asked for her help?" Durandal tilted her head, confused.

"…" Rita looked at her, saying nothing, having already given up trying to reason with her.

"Hehe, Durandal, maybe you should try learning from the legendary Herrscher classroom. The Herrscher of Sentience's refusal doesn't mean she would always refuse."

Kallen chuckled and spoke.

She felt that Luo Mo's setting up of these classes was actually quite useful, and maybe someone really needed it.

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After Fu Hua seized the power of consciousness from the Herrscher of Sentience while she was off guard, she decisively launched a powerful attack on the puppets, severing all the threads connecting them to their real-world counterparts.

From that moment on, she and Bronya wouldn't be morally blackmailed by the Herrscher, and they could finally break through her defenses.

But as expected, the Herrscher of Sentience's power was also taken by Fu Hua.

Once again, someone in Schicksal experienced the feeling of having their Herrscher power taken away. Bronya wasn't alone anymore.

"The Herrscher of Sentience… how is she doing?"

Bronya looked at Fu Hua with some concern, asking. Losing her core wasn't a good feeling. Hopefully, she was alright…

"She's fine… It's just that our conversation was interrupted."

"But I didn't expect her to actually agree to help you."

"No, to be precise, she didn't agree."

Fu Hua's eyes shifted slightly to the side, she said softly.

"Eh…?" Bronya unconsciously opened her mouth, her pupils slightly widening.

Could it be… that she thought what she thought?

"She just wavered. But I'm a little pressed for time…"

Fu Hua pushed up her glasses, a cold glint flashing in her eyes. She added calmly.

"Then she… must be furious right now."

"I'll find her and apologize properly. That's something I have to deal with."

Fu Hua sighed softly, speaking helplessly.

Although Bronya wanted to make a comment, she thought about it and realized that Kiana's situation was more urgent.

No matter what, they could finally fight without any reservations.

If you ignore the Herrscher of Sentience's emotions, everything up to this point had been relatively smooth.

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"Humph! You just gave it away like that? So you don't care about power that isn't yours, huh?"

The Herrscher of Sentience widened her eyes, pointing a finger at Fu Hua and accusingly said.

"This… wasn't it a matter of necessity…"

Fu Hua looked at her, feeling awkward for the first time in a long time.

From the perspective that the game is a parallel world, she seemed to have actually scammed the Herrscher of Sentience. It was no wonder she kept complaining about being scammed every day.

However, after seeing the whole picture, she felt it was fine, after all, there was a reason for it.

Although the Herrscher of Sentience didn't think so…

"Heh— Still the same excuse? No originality at all! I've heard enough, and I… won't believe you anymore."

The Herrscher of Sentience dug one ear with one hand, and impatiently fanned with the other, signaling that there was no need to bring it up again.

"Then, what kind of compensation do you want? I'll discuss it with you properly next time…"

Looking at the various expressions around her, and some hints in those expressions, Fu Hua understood what they meant and started to ask how to resolve this chapter.

"Compensation huh? Hmm— I haven't thought about it yet, at least three small requests. First, let me sleep in your bed for two days, no objections?"

The Herrscher of Sentience pondered for a moment, then quickly said.

The speed at which she made this request didn't seem like she hadn't thought about it at all, it was more like… she had been thinking about it from the start.

"Uh… where would I sleep then?"

Fu Hua was somewhat dumbfounded. She remembered that she had specially chosen a more luxurious room for the Herrscher of Sentience because of her complaints.

Although the Herrscher of sentience still came to her room every now and then to complain about this and that, saying that Fu Hua's room was full of old junk, this statement actually made Little Book of Fuxi nod frequently.

Fuxi and Nuwa just watched the show and had no intention of helping.

"Obviously, you'll sleep in my room!"

The Herrscher of Sentience said plainly, in a matter-of-fact tone.

"…"

"What, can't you even agree to the first request?"

"Fine, I agree… But don't bring up the matter of you being scammed again."

"Yay! We'll talk about the other two later."

The Herrscher of Sentience answered in agreement, looking triumphant.

Speaking of which, it was originally Old Antique's fault from the original world, it had nothing to do with her, but it was she who brought it up first, so it had nothing to do with her!

Old Antique really couldn't think creatively, she forgot that she was also in that classroom! She directly used the second to last step, she's such a blockhead…

But, thank you for that textbook.

Unknowingly, Elysia received a thumbs-up from somewhere nearby.

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The tide had turned, making the current puppets even more difficult to deal with.

Just as they were about to get caught in a desperate struggle, a red electric light flashed across the puppets, and many of them collapsed.

The source was none other than Raiden Mei, who was fighting on the other side of the theater.

Unlike this side, where they were being entangled by the puppets, it was the opposite. She was the one entangling the puppets.

Having learned the relevant theory, she was confident in facing the puppets head-on, especially since Kiana's life was hanging in the balance. She had to settle things with these puppets.

She was the complete Herrscher of Thunder, and her power of conquest was not inferior to the Herrscher of Dominance.

After a brief clash, it was the puppets who were injured.

Facing the puppets' bewildered and panicked expressions, Mei simply scoffed— because they were too weak.

But the puppets' following actions fueled the anger in Mei's heart.

They used the Herrscher of Sentience's power to conjure an illusion of Kiana's voice and figure, hoping to persuade Mei to go back with her, to return to St. Freya, to their past encounters and those beautiful days.

"… I don't need to go back to the past."

"And she doesn't need to either!"

The red blade flashed, illuminating her icy gaze, as cold as ice, with thunder crackling around her.

"Hmph!"

She looks forward to meeting her again, but not in the illusory past.

Raiden Mei has always had complete confidence in Kiana. She believes that she won't fall here, she won't succumb to these shadows and failures.

All she needs to do is make her path a little easier.

She wields all her power of conquest, clashing head-on with the power of dominance that connects the puppets. The entire space seems to tremble with the impact.

[Bronya: Mei-nee… Do you have some hidden meaning? The puppets are too weak, so what about me… who had my power stolen by them?]

[Although the Rice Cooker has stopped, the Duck has not ended!]

[Returning to the past… The lightning has already severed the past, she doesn't need to, and Kiana doesn't need to either.]

[Comment]

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"Wow, Mei is so cool! Unlike Bronya…"

Kiana secretly glanced at Bronya, giggled foolishly, and rubbed against Mei.

"Try saying that again? If you say… Bronya… won't help you fight Abyss again!"

Bronya was a bit angry, but in front of Seele, she chose to maintain her dignity.

Although, in actual combat, she seemed to have already lost to her… It's so annoying.

She and Seele often sparred with each other, and Kiana's strength had grown very quickly, in fact, too quickly.

"Hey, I can have Little Senti help me fight. Besides, it's not that hard, right?"

"But last time you fought to the highest difficulty."

"…"

...

"Wow, Mei looks so cool, even when she's wielding her sword. She's got a different style than before, so cool~"

Elysia's eyes lit up when she saw Mei draw her sword, a bit expectant. Cool and aloof Mei is pretty good too~

Especially those horns on her head after she uses her power, they look so touchable~

"It seems like she's gone through a lot since the World Serpent. It's a bit of a pity, she doesn't smile anymore."

She subconsciously wiped the corner of her mouth and said softly.

"What are you looking at? Mobius~ , you actually care about me? I'm so touched."

She glanced around, but found Mobius staring at her blankly. It seemed like she had seen everything that just happened.

"Looking at you? You're so full of yourself." Mobius snorted and turned her gaze away.

But she was still thinking about when did Elysia pick up this habit?

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The girl opened her sleepy eyes. She had been unconscious for a long time, and she felt as if she had had a very long dream.

In her dream, there were nightmares that had dissipated, and the warm flames she once yearned for.

The massive shadows that had sunk into the darkness, and the cluster of stars that had illuminated her way home in the night.

But those were just dreams after all, she had to face reality.

Looking at Bronya, the weakened Fu Hua, and the puppets that were limping and moving in a more bizarre way.

Many questions flashed through her mind, but she didn't ask. She just gripped her guns tightly and looked at them.

"Come on, it's time to settle this!"

The girl's voice was as firm as ever.

But the puppets were silent, or perhaps they were too injured to speak. They slowly but surely advanced.

"It was that red lightning earlier. Mei must be somewhere else, fighting alongside us." Bronya said.

And after that attack, she noticed her power slowly returning to her core.

"Heh—, then it's clear what we have to do next,"

Kiana smiled, her eyes shining as she looked at the puppets in front of her. As long as they weakened them again, they could recover all their power.

"…" You actually defeated that Herrscher of the Void?"

The puppets looked at the three who charged forward, speaking with difficulty.

They had done so much, paved the way for everything. They had never thought that Kiana could defeat that Herrscher of the Void…

all this time, wasn't she just temporarily sealed with the help of that Red kite Immortal?

"Heh, hahaha… Okay—"

The puppets let out a piercing laugh, a mixture of sadness and helplessness,

"The despair of losing your teacher couldn't crush you, the Herrscher of the Void couldn't defeat you, even those cores couldn't hold you back…"

"Alright, alright, Kiana. I admit, you might actually be a hero."

"I'm not a hero," Kiana simply explained, a spark of flame appearing in her eyes.

"Those who guided me, those who led me, they are the true heroes."

"I'm just following the path they left behind, remembering… that they existed."

"Heh— really? Maybe…" The puppets tilted their heads, neither agreeing nor denying.

A strange change occurred in the theater, an odd feeling spreading through everyone's hearts.

The puppets' voices grew louder, more extreme, their words echoing through the theater, spreading malice towards everyone.

"But we are not!—"

"We are not heroes, and those people you're trying to save— they're not heroes either!"

"They are 'puppets' just like us, they gave up struggling, they live without knowing why. They hate their own powerlessness and weakness, turning it into hatred for the world."

"You don't represent humanity!" Kiana couldn't help but retort.

Just like the Herrscher of the Void didn't represent Sirin, how could these malicious puppets represent humanity?

"But we are the shadows that truly exist within the human heart, the unspeakable ugliness— controlling these thousand people is the unified will of a thousand!"

The puppets said. They were a thousand, they were the majority, they represented humanity more than the three in front of them.

"A thousand sorrows, a thousand despairs, a thousand insanities, a thousand curses. They want to be destroyed, they want to be imprisoned, they want to be dominated—"

"Countless malicious distortions, combined, built this "Theater of Domination", creating the "Herrscher of Domination"!"

"You only see the darkness in people's hearts, but you cover your eyes and ignore the beauty."

"You dominate people, making them give up, but you never listened to the other voice in their hearts."

"So you are just puppets of Honkai. We will destroy this theater and let everyone who has been dominated reclaim their own hearts."

Hearing Kiana's words, the puppets gave up arguing. They had seen her unwavering will all along.

It wouldn't think it was wrong, and neither would she.

So in the end, it would all come down to a fight.

It gently lowered the curtain, awaiting the final performance.

"Alright, Kiana, the final stage is set for you."

"Come on! Next… is the final showdown between heroes and malice!"

The endless red carpet stretched up towards the dark steps. The stage built in the distance gave off a sense of unease.

Kiana walked up the steps, step by step, with unwavering determination. The black outer walls of the theater swallowed all the light.

As the puppets said, this was the final showdown.

[I envy Kiana for having such a good teacher… Maybe, if Himeko wasn't there… ]

[Even though I said I wanted to join the Herrscher of domination Herrscher before, and I don't believe this is a beautiful world… But, Kiana, good luck!]

[Hero vs. Malice… that's pretty accurate. But if it's Kiana, I'm willing to believe in the beauty she represents.]

[Kiana will become a hero… because the world is waiting for her to become a hero. I have a deeper understanding of this phrase. Whether she wants to or not, she can only move forward.]

[Comment]

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TL test... Alas, let me know if there's a missTL here