Honkai Martial Artist

Chapter 3

"This is such a pain…"

Twelve-year-old Kiana was walking through busy streets in a frontier city in North America.

After cleaning a tundra full of Honkai Beasts she remembered that Raynold's birthday was soon and she needed to get something for him.

'Just take something you want and be done with it.'

"That's stealing, you doofus."

'Why would I care about human terms?' The Herrscher scoffed in her mind.

"Because it will give a bad image to Ray. Do you want him to be mad at us?" Kiana pointed out that with a 'duh' voice.

'...Fair point. However, how are you going to buy anything? You have no money.'

The white-haired girl grimaced. Then she had a genius idea.

"Maybe someone needs a Herrscher for hire?"

'...I don't think anyone considered that.'

As they continued to walk. A rebound started to happen.

A rebound is an Honkai counter-act. Honkai's rise should be equivalent to humanity's technological advancement. But, Honkai incursions can't keep up with the 'cleaning' done by Raynold and Kiana.

The pair would take huge swaths of land and kill all Honkai Beasts AND absorb all excess Honkai energy in the air.

This causes instability in Honkai's progress to destroy humanity.

"...It appears I will be saving a city this time around."

'...Ugh…'

"Come now. We need to perform with perfection. Otherwise, Ray will be disappointed with us!"

'Fine…fine… I will control Imaginary Space.'

Kiana smirked as though her clothes, hairstyle, and eye colour changed.

The Queen of Void rose into the air as waves of orange energies erupted from her and started to spread through the frontier city.

As she was doing that, red lightning started to crackle and Honkai Beasts started to manifest.

'...Honkai levels are pathetic. I expected a greater response from IT.'

"This is just a rebound. If we allow it to expand it will rise beyond this pathetic level."

Kiana commented with an indifferent voice as her orange Herrscher eyes scanned the surroundings watching through the Honkai energy to see the whole impacted area.

Eventually, she started to lock on all the targets.

She lifted her hand and with a snap of fingers imaginary space portals started to open and subspace lances shot out like missiles into the Honkai Beasts.

Effortlessly killing all the beasts who were about to land in the city.

With another hand motion, all the people were transported away.

All that happened in less than ten seconds.

Since there are two personas in one body, tasks can be assigned separately. This makes Kiana an extremely dangerous enemy to face.

"Let's end this." Two voices said at the same time.

She lifted her hand and a subspace portal opened. All the Honkai in the area started to get sucked in.

In a few short moments, the area has been cleaned.

Once she was done the girl landed on the ground and dismissed her Herrscher form.

Just like that, she ended another dangerous situation in just a few short moments.

'It will take a while but that Honkai energy will be processed soon enough.'

"That's fine I am in no hurry."

'...Yes. Though this is strange. It has been five years. Since we are with Raynold… there has not been a single eruption.'

Kiana frowned when she heard that. By all means the fourth Herrscher should be appearing or is it a third? Since Raynold is not 'normal' Herrscher.

Whatever it is… Honkai can't seem to build up momentum.

"It's good is it not? There will be less reason for Schnicsal to exist."

'Hmm…'

As the pair were talking Kiana found a place to sit and think about this more, she still needed that money for Raynold's birthday.

But that moment a pair of girls walked over in front of her.

"Yes?"

"...You are the 2nd Herrscher? The Void Queen?" The one who spoke had blue hair.

The pair looked unique…one was blue the other one was red. They are like uniquely themed people.

"...Uh-huh… that would be me."

"I see. Let me ask you. Do you want to work for Anti-Entropy?"

Kiana's eyebrow went up. Anti-Entropy? Aren't they the guys with robots and stuff like that? She had seen several mechs built by them in the wilds before.

"...Will I get paid?"

Her answer made the pair confused. Herrscher of Void wants money!?

"...Umm…if this is what you want?" The blue-haired tomboy girl nodded.

"I can't believe you considering the notion of joining an Organisation!"

'Money is money! I still need to buy something for Ray!' Kiana hissed at her mentally.

'Besides I have an idea.' The girl ended up cooking up an idea.

'...'

"Great! Then I need to find a gift for Ray!"

"...Ray?"

"Yeah!"

"Who is Ray?"

Kiana looked confused for a second.

"Ray is Ray. Anyway! Let's go!"

"Umm…okay?"

And so Kiana let the pair around the city to look for something. The thing was the pair were so weirded out by this Herrscher that they didn't even realise that the white-haired girl didn't say anything about herself even one bit!

Sure they were top Scientists of Anti-Entropy and survived two eruptions. But, they never met such a hyper-happy girl who was supposed to be the second incarnation of Herrscher of Void.

By the time the sun started to set down. The pair were tired and Kiana finally found a nice pendant.

Once the scientists paid for it. It was time for the girl to leave.

"...My thanks! This is awesome! See ya later!"

An orange portal opened in front of her and she jumped into it and then disappeared.

"...Phew…she is finally gone." The red-haired girl said with a tired sigh. She was massaging her legs.

"...Yeah…"

"..."

"..."

"..."

…

…

…

"!!!"

"Damn her!!! She ripped us off! And then left!"

"...Never expected that… who is she?"

"I don't care! Not only did she drain us mentally but we bought things for her!"

The redhead has regained her vigour and forgotten about mental tiredness, all thanks to all that anger!

"She is still Herrscher…"

"Is she!? That brat is a devil!" The redhead snapped angrily.

"...Yeah. I only now realised that we have no idea where she lives or what's her name." The blue-haired one was much more composed. She is still pondering what just happened.

"...Damn!"

~~~

With a grin, Kiana appeared in front of her house.

Her grin quickly disappeared as she noticed golden mist all over the place.

"...Golden mist…"

"..."

*PULSE*

At that moment the golden lotus in her mind reacted.

"This is…something related to Lotus Meditation." The girl commented as she felt a pulse in her very subconscious!

'...Yes…and unlike Raynold you waste time swindling Anti-Entropy.'

"...Yeah…"

"!?"

For a second Kiana had a glassy look before she snapped out.

'Are you okay?'

"Yeah, don't worry about It."

The white-haired girl moved forward towards the source.

Over the years she learned the two meditation techniques from Raynold. One is the Lotus Meditation. This meditation is related to self-enlightenment and helps develop character. This is one of the reasons why the girl can tolerate studying.

And knows how to pay attention properly instead of ignoring things and doesn't act like a muscle head.

The second one is Meditation of Heaven and Earth, this is the most beneficial for her as it helps her grasp Honkai energy and exert her will over the wild Honkai.

There are certain side effects, like for example, she can glimpse through Honkai into certain things.

However, she is very far from comprehending what she is seeing.

After all, she never passed the second stage, the Oneself-Acceptance. That's right, she might have passed the Herrscher of Void hurdle, but the other hurdle is 'Kiana Kaslana'. To accept oneself you need to know oneself.

She knows from her Herrscher self that she is a consciousness which came with the crystal. But the body? The body is that of Kaslana.

A clone. So to accept herself she needs to learn what this Kaslana family is.

This is why she is half-step complete and stuck in this stage.

Eventually, she arrived at the training spot. She saw Raynold sitting on a boulder, the top was cleanly cut off. It's like a sitting mat for him.

"Kiana, you are back. How was your training?"

The moment she heard him talking the girl swiftly forgot her confusion and smiled brightly.

"It's fine. I cleaned it from coast to coast!"

He smiled hearing that she removed Honkai Beasts from West to East Coast.

"Wonderfully done. Why don't we get something to eat." As he said that the Golden Mist disappeared and he appeared right in front of her.

Internally Kiana gulped down as she could not even follow his movements.

It's like each time she gets a fraction closer to him in power he takes seven steps forward.

"O-Okay."

As the pair were walking back to their house, Raynold commented on something.

"By the way, you only had 5 minutes before curfew."

"Hehehe… I thought you might forget about that~" She joked while scratching the back of her head.

"You are Herrscher of Void. I gave you the curfew so that you are self-aware of the time flow. Punctuality is important for self-discipline."

"But I am!" She exclaimed with a pout. There is no way she accepts the fact he calls her airhead!

"Right."

He didn't believe it at all.

~~~

After a quiet dinner, the pair were resting in the living room. Raynold was reading a book while Kiana was using his shoulder as a pillow and was spacing out.

"You look confused."

"...You are not even looking at me. How do you know I am confused?"

"Do I need to see to know?"

He didn't even look at her, instead, he continued to read.

"...I guess you don't."

"So what is it?"

"Your Lotus Meditation has advanced to the next step is it not?"

"It indeed had."

His casual confirmation made her frown for a bit. By her understanding, she knows he is already at stage 4. She is still at stage 1! That's just annoying! How is she going to catch up!?

"...I still haven't passed properly into stage 2."

When he heard that he stopped reading and closed the book. He didn't even mark the page as he will remember it anyway.

"So what is confusing you?"

"...Me…who I am."

"Didn't we establish that fact? Why are you returning to it in a roundabout way?" He asked with a small frown.

"...Yes. But I want to understand my origins."

As she said that she added a couple more things.

"It's not that I want to be 'proper' Kaslana. I want to clarify where I come from."

"I know that I am a Herrscher of Void who was cloned with the body of a Kaslana to be a weapon for Schnicsal. But I want to know…who is this Kaslana?"

"Heh… so it's a simple curiosity. Not oneself acceptance."

"...Maybe… but it is related to my origins." She pointed out.

"...True. So you want to find out?" He asked her. The tone of his voice told her that he would most likely shatter continents for her if it was necessary. For him, this was not a difficult task.

Raynold's mentality long ago left common sense grounds. He possibly didn't have it in the first place.

But for Kiana, it meant a lot. Maybe even too much.

"Y-Yes."

"Fine. Then tomorrow we will look for information."

~~~

Just as Raynold said the pair left their home and flew over to the tower where she was first created.

The tower was no longer there.

With a casual hand swipe, all the snow was removed. What they saw was a pile of debris.

"So Schnicsal destroyed it," Kiana's dual voice sounded extra annoyed, especially when it came from two people.

"Not a surprise. This means we should go to their HQ."

"...Are you sure?"

"...You sound like it's a difficult thing to do."

All the girl could do was frown from worry. Schnicsal still has certain means to fight Herrschers. The flashbacks she gets still send shivers through her very being.