Honkai Martial Artist

Chapter 6

The battle abruptly ended. Schicksal forces were on their last legs. The Valkyries were simply tired, their mechs were destroyed, and the Honkai Beasts were not even trying.

It was as if they were getting stalled.

Which they were. Some of them realised that, but they were already too late.

Before they can try to regroup in some sort of form all of the Honkai Beasts are recalled.

They entered into orange-purple portals and simply disappeared.

A few seconds later their Overseer notified them that a cease-fire had been reached.

'Cease…fire? Between Humanity and Herrschers? What is going on!?'

The Valkyries are shocked, to say the least. Nothing like this ever happened before.

Those two Herrschers had an overwhelming advantage in this fight. From surprise attacks to overwhelming power in general.

Nothing made sense.

~~~

Otto took the pair of Herrschers to the main office.

"From here you can control the whole of Schicksal."

"Yeah. I guessed that much. There are a lot of screens here."

Raynold said that while looking around.

"I would prefer a middleman. Can't you transfer some of your memories into one of your bodies and let it run like some sort of manager?" The Herrscher of Balance suggested. He doesn't want to run Schicksal but 'run' it.

He is a Martial Artist, not a 'High Priest'.

"...Possible. But such a thing will take time." Otto replied after thinking for a bit.

"I see… then it's a good thing. The crystal takes time to gather Honkai energy as well."

"I see. Then I shall start the preparations."

Kiana could feel the stiffness between these two. Even if the blonde man tried to play down she could feel his muscles being all tense. Such a thing is possible with her Void Field.

She never dismissed the 'net' she cast at the beginning of the fight. This allows her to instantaneously access Imaginary Space.

"Do tell your top valkyries to come here. I do wish to speak with them."

"Very well."

As Otto walked away, his shadow, a girl who had white hair and an orange visor followed after him. Kiana and Raynold could see that this girl had blue eyes.

She looked almost like a copy of Kiana Kaslana. The keyword almost.

"Is that girl one of Kaslanas?" Kiana asked Raynold after they were the only ones in the office.

"No. That would be Kallen Kaslana's copy."

"...I see…"

"Someone like him most likely cloned her, tried to recreate her, and many other things until he concluded that he needed to play God to get her." He said to her while looking through the window.

"...What a crazy guy."

The Void Queen commented with a sigh.

"Is it? You wouldn't do anything you can for your love?" He asked with a curious tone.

His question took her by surprise. Her 'Master' never talked about relationships or love. It was strange.

"The only reason why I am even considering helping him is his drive. There are very few people who have such a commitment. I don't think there are enough of them to count on one hand."

"...You don't think it's far too obsessive?" She asked him.

All she got was a snort.

"Kiana if I wasn't obsessed you would still be in that Tower, and I would be dead from Honkai infection.

I trained relentlessly my whole life, and now you are enjoying those benefits."

She slowly nodded at him. He didn't notice but Kiana had a weird look. The Void Queen just concluded how she should commit as well.

The girl never thought that Otto would once again change things in her life.

"You're oddly silent."

"I have been thinking about what you just said."

"Hmm? You never are a deep thinker."

"Certain things require me to think quite a bit." She said with a small smile.

"I see."

She simply nodded before dismissing her lances and wing. The girl then walked over and dropped onto a couch and proceeded to laze around.

Though her mind was still thinking about what she should do.

Well, more like reaffirming what she wants to do.

The girl knows Raynold won't stop until he becomes a 'God'. That much is certain. But what about her? The 'deal' is that she will be training under him until she is self-sufficient. Which by all means she is.

This means her training is almost over.

So will she go her own way? The answer is a resounding no. There is no way she will do something like that. The girl decided to follow him to the end of the world.

'You better be. Otherwise, I will turn you into a vegetable and take the body over.'

The Herrscher persona said with a cold voice.

'Yeah, I know. Since Ray loves dedication. Then we shall show him how we can be dedicated to him!'

'You finally speak my language. I thought you were going to turn into a snowflake Valkyrie after learning that Kaslanas HAVE BEEN Valkyries for hundreds of years.'

Kiana simply eye-rolled at her.

'Not interested. I have been created in a research facility and raised by a martial artist. I am no 'hero'.'

'Then we will get along.'

The girl felt that her power over the void became smoother. Just from this conversation.

This made her realise. Could she finally enter stage 2 of Lotus Meditation?

She was much more at peace with herself AND her dedication towards her goal got much stronger.

~~~

Fu Hua and Durandal went over to see what the hell was going on. They learned that the Herrschers joined with Overseer.

Rita even said that the Overseer would hand over Schicksal for some power!

This was utterly maddening!

The pair of Valkyries went to see if it was the truth!

Sure enough, they saw Raynold leisurely sitting in the Overseer's chair and the Void Queen was on a couch lying on her stomach and swinging her legs leisurely.

"Where is the Overseer?"

"You are looking at him." Raynold teased the blonde Valkyrie.

"...You are not my Overseer!" Durandal exclaimed with an angry voice. There is no way she will accept this guy as her leader!

"Are you sure? Did you ask Rita?"

"...I don't care!"

"Are you sure?" Raynold asked with a 'bright' smile.

"Durandal control yourself. Don't make a scene." Fu Hua tried to calm her down.

"How can I accept? He attacked Schicksal with an army of Honkai Beasts!" Now she sounded like an angry teen girl.

"What of it? Those beasts were nothing more than puppets created for distraction." He said with a leisurely voice, placing both of his legs on the table.

"...He is right. There were no infections of Honkai energy or deaths, only minor damages to the facilities." Fu Hua explained with a frown. She looked at the Herrscher with confusion of her own.

"...Fu Hua you too?"

The blonde exclaimed loudly with disbelief and turned around and left.

"...I apologise for her behaviour." Fu Hua apologised.

"It's fine. I have teased her quite a bit in our fight." Raynold casually waved his hand to forget about it.

"Knowing her she will turn around." He said that while looking at Kiana who was observing the whole thing.

"?"

"I see. Then I will leave with your permission." The blue-haired girl respectfully bowed. Her voice was quite cold and she was as professional as one gets.

"...Tell me do you want to reach the next level of training?"

His question made her tremble for a bit.

"You have developed martial arts of your own. When it comes to Honkai you never created a mental art to improve yourself."

"...I will think about this, may I leave?"

He nodded at her request.

Once she left Kiana stopped lazing around and sat down properly.

"That blonde… your reaction was strange." The Void Queen asked him.

"That's because she is the Kaslana you are based on."

Her eyes widened from shock and she got up on her feet for a second.

"But—"

"She looks different and all the stuff?"

She nodded at him.

"Do you realise how strange it would look if she looked like Kaslana and Schariac?"

"...So they changed her looks?"

"Indeed."

She frowned heavily before dropping back into her seat.

"I see."

Raynold looked confused for a bit. Did she just dismiss this?

"You are not going after her?"

"What for?"

"By all means she is your family, a 'sister' if you would." He commented with a questioning look. Just several hours ago she wanted to know things about herself which meant looking for her family and things like that.

It was part of her training to improve herself.

"Yes. Well, family is important and all that stuff but I have important things to consider as well." She tried to sound smart-ish how she said that.

"Ok? And that is?"

"Watching over you of course." She said with a cute smile.

For a second he deadpanned at her.

"I don't think there are enough enemies on this planet who could potentially assassinate me like this."

"I know. But I am the only person in this place who knows you. The rest are strangers."

She reasonably explained to him.

"True."

~~~

As Otto was creating a tool for Raynold, the Herrscher in question was doing the same.

He is gathering Honkai Energy, once it reaches a critical level it starts to form a gem. It is not as big as Herrscher core.

A Herrscher core is around the size of an adult hand while a gem is around its size.

Once he was done the gem glowed orange.

"Hmm…"

The Herrscher of Balance grabbed it. He could feel more power flowing through him.

'Fascinating…'

Mentally he created point A to point B and then another point of entry one could say point C to point D. Once properly established he walked over and was back in the Overseer's office.

He just crossed a distance of 10 minutes of walking in an instant.

Well, he did enter an illusionary space and then reinterred the real world at a different place.

As he sat down in the seat he allowed the crystal to float around him. It was as if he was a Sun and the gem was one of the planets. Spinning around him leisurely while thinking about what to do next.

As his meditation power grew stronger, he understood what Honkai is and what it does.

From his understanding there will be the next 'wild' Herrscher and the Will behind Honkai will continue to cause eruptions.

This is why Raynold is wondering who will be next. In the meantime, he will have some fun in Schicksal.

Training the Valkyries to learn how to wield Honkai properly and maybe merge his Honkai forces with Schicksal? Make a couple of valkyries into handlers of the beasts.

This way he will save more girls' lives.

'It's kinda strange how females are the ones who have much higher resistance to Honkai than men. Is it an early development of the Honkai trait?

After all, females are the ones who sustain numbers of people. If you kill females you kill civilization as a whole. So The Will of Honkai is forcing females into a meat grinder?'

Raynold realised how crazy this wild force was.

~~~

As Raynold is pondering on things and waiting for Otto, Kiana is in a room given to her.

She had dismissed her Herrscher form and was meditating.

The Golden Lotus seed in her mind finally bloomed properly and turned into a flower. Her consciousness which was in a semi-golden state turned into pure gold

This was where she felt 'calmer' and more focused than ever before.

This new focus gives her a greater perspective on things.

"Done. Now I should proceed with the next one."

She got up from her new bed and proceeded to stand in the Heaven and Earth Meditation stance.

The girl could finally feel it was progressing.

A Yin and Yang disc finally manifested in her subconsciousness, and her Herrscher crystal manifested above it.

True synchronisation was finally complete!

"Phew!"

She could finally sigh in relief, it was done! She has been stuck in this state for years.

At that moment a shadow appeared next to her.

It was her Herrscher Persona.

"Not bad. I can finally project myself like this."

"...nice, we can finally talk like this outside my dreams."

The orange-eyed Kiana slowly nodded.