Honkai Martial Artist

Chapter 2


"Since you got some basics down I should start teaching you how to control your powers," Raynold said with crossed arms.


Kiana was sitting on a boulder and listening patiently. There is a certain attraction for her when Raynold is explaining things like this.


Part of her is doing this simply because he wants to teach her. She is just grateful that he took her away from that place.


Not to mention gave her name, food and other things. 


"Okay. What do I have to do?"


Instead of saying anything he started to float, he crossed his legs and connected his fingers.


"Copy how I do." 


She nodded and proceeded to copy how he sat and his fingers positioned. Once she was ready, Raynold proceeded to explain more.


"Now close your eyes."


The white-haired girl closed her eyes.


"Now whisper to herself, as you do that, make it so that each time you whisper it's more and more away from you…until you fall into darkness."


After explaining all of this, he observed her progress.


A few seconds later, she opened her eyes. She looked over-excited.


"W-What now!? I feel like I just ate a mountain of sweets!"


Her explanation made Raynold narrow his eyes.


"So this is where all the sweets disappeared too? I thought I was seeing things."


The girl's eyes widened as she was caught red-handed!


"N-No! I mean, I said that because I thought it was the best comparison!? Sugar makes one super active! Yes?"


He rolled his eyes at her before appearing in front of her.


"Anyway, back to training. Your mind is in a ready state. Now get ready for the next step."


She forgot about the whole sweets thing and nodded at him with a serious look.


"The next step is Oneself Acceptance. Normally this won't be a big deal. As you reflect on what you are. But for you, the Herrscher crystal has been given to you, and it comes with baggage."


Once again she nodded seriously at him. Now she knows why she can hear a voice whispering in her mind.


"I am ready."


Raynold nodded at her as he poked her finger with a golden-glowing finger.


This made her close her eyes and fall into darkness.


When she opened her eyes again she was in a golden white world. In front of her was —her dressed in a white dress with black stockings and high heels. This version of her had her hair loose while Kiana's current style is a high ponytail. 


This other version was floating in the air with closed eyes and crossed arms.


"You're finally here."


Her voice has a certain metallic echo. When she opened her eyes her pupils were tail tale Herrscher eyes Kiana saw Raynold have as well.


Only Raynold's eyes are much more unique, they represent universal balance, and these have a diamond shape.


"You are the Herrscher?"


"More or less." The floating Kiana look-a-like casually shrugged at her.


"The more correct comparison is that I am your Herrscher persona. When the crystal was inserted into this body, the personality was fully transferred as well.


That means WE ARE Herrscher of Void."


"...What you are saying is that… the consciousness is transferred from the previous Herrscher?"


"Indeed. You do realise that it takes years for a mind to develop. Yet, here we are…"


"...So…" Kiana's expression turned extremely sad.


"Don't look so glum." The Herrscher scoffed at her sadness.


"...But…I thought…I can be Kiana Kaslana."


"...The identity you speak of which was given to you by Raynold?" The moment orange-eyed counterpart mentioned him she turned much more soft. There was a pleasant look on her face.


"Then it doesn't matter, does it? Herrschers are Lawmakers, we are the absolutes when it comes to our laws. By nature, we are given titles of Kings and Queens.


You are Kiana Kaslana, The Queen of Void. Nothing can take that away from you."


For some reason, Kiana Kaslana calmed down considerably when she heard that. She knew this was the truth. Something like a rock rolling away from her heart.


"My power is your power. As long as you wield it for the sake of Raynold. The moment you start wielding it for those pathetic humans I will make myself known. You don't want me to be angry with you."


White light consumed the area at that moment a lotus seed appeared in her consciousness. It bloomed into a large Lotus Flower.


*Gasp*


Kiana's eyes snapped open. She saw Raynold standing in front of her.


"Well?"


"...Success."


The girl jumped on her feet. She could feel the crystal, the power flowing through every inch of her body. It's simply amazing!


With simple thought her clothes, eyes and hairstyle changed. She was Herrscher of Void, the Queen. She inspected her hands after the transformation.


Though, in the back of her mind, she could feel her, watching. She did recall what Herrscher Persona said. 


"Good. It appears you can harness the power. But this is just the beginning. The next part is to make this power truly yours."


"Yes."


Her voice had a certain duality in it. It was as if two people were talking at once.


"Interesting. It appears you are fully linked with her." 


"We are the same. Herrscher of Void and Kiana Kaslana are one and the same."


"Good, this means you are growing." He praised her when he heard her declaration. It means the synergy between those two distinct personalities is growing.


His praise made Herrscher blush from happiness and at the same time smugly smile. It's like two types of reactions at once.


"Next we are going to learn another meditation which will help you control your energy. With this, you will be able to absorb the wild energy and increase the size of your Herrscher crystal. This means your law will be much more potent."


"I see. So you have a method which allows you to do all those things with Honkai Energy." Herrscher Kiana curiously commented.


"Honkai, so that's the name of this energy?"


"...You— became a Herrscher and mastered the control over this power before you even knew its name!?" Kiana was baffled, to say the least!


"I never cared about such a thing. Not that the energy ever tried to explain itself how it is called."


"What do you mean?"


"You will understand once you grasp this."


Raynold walked over to her and once again placed his finger on her forehead white and black energy surged into her.


"I have transferred the intent. Now let's continue."


He showed her the stance and how to feel the Balance. The energy he gave her worked like a compass on how to reach such a stage. 


Since she already passed Zen and Oneself Acceptance she quickly reached the stages and was able to grasp Honkai even better.


As Herrscher of Void, she can wield her power instinctively. But with Meditation of Heaven and Earth, she can wield surrounding areas AND exert her will over wild Honkai. 


For someone like her…who wields space…her power will grow exponentially. She will be strong enough to defend herself against that Organization and do whatever she wants.


~~~~~~Few Years Later~~~~~~


Time moved on, and so did Raynold's and Kiana's training. Yet, there are few things which they can't live without. That is food and water.


It's not like they always stay in their Herrscher forms.


To buy food Raynold needs money and to get money he sells some stuff he picks up in Siberia… like precious metals. 


He was able to work like this for a couple of years. But as he needs to appear in cities this means the organisation will eventually notice him.


'Armies of girls… truly their leaders have some kinks…'


The Herrscher of Balance noticed girls dressed in armour and with weapons.


They are on the lookout. 


Not that he pretended to hide, or lacked confidence. If he continues to look like everything is fine they will have less chance to notice him.


However… he was not that lucky. The girls are using high-end tech. With A.I. assistance they quickly located him as he looked quite identical to the guy who invaded their tower.


'But will they move on me?'


They need a lot of power to get to him.


But he continued with his grocery shopping. 


After getting everything and leaving the supermarket he was greeted by a small army of girls.


Leading at the front was a girl with blue hair and dressed in black armour.


"So, what can I do for you?"


"Third Herrscher, surrender." The leading girl sharply ordered him.


"I would rather not."


"You have no choice."


"Choice? All things in this world are in balance. For you to impact this balance you have to be strong. Can you move a mountain when you say that it has no choice?"


With a hum…


The armour the girls are wearing started to beep crazily!


"C-Commander! The Honkai levels radiating from him just went through the roof!"


"...I-I-Its at least five times the minimum required for a Herrscher to manifest!"


With a burst of black and white Raynold's form changed.


"I don't know how much they pay you girls to play army, but leave that kind of thing for boys."


With a simple hand motion, a disc of Yin and Yang appeared underneath them. The next second crushing force descended on their very being and made them drop on their feet.


As they could not move he walked over to the leading girl. But that moment she with some effort rolled out from the circle and stood up.


"...Your power affects everything in the circle! Once I am outside I can fight!"


She lunged at him with a fist. But Raynold didn't even move. He simply allowed her to punch him.


Yet, the collision only broke her armour!


"...W-What!?"


"Your fancy armour is quite fragile." He commented when he saw it break. He can finally see what she looks like.


With a step an even bigger circle appeared underneath them.


Once it was in place the blue-haired girl couldn't move anymore.


"Ugh…"


The girl tried to struggle but it was pointless. She watched how his finger got closer and closer before stopping in front of her forehead.


"Tell me, what is your name?"


"...Fu Hua…"


"Fu Hua. If you ever want to practise martial arts and reach the next realm of power, find me. I will teach you. By then you might— remember."


With a flick he sent her flying back into her girls. 


Once he was done here he disappeared.


"...D-Damn! We couldn't even stall him long enough for the Overseer to arrive!"


~~~


The second encounter with the Third Herrscher brought in some results.


They learned that over the years it was getting stronger. Much stronger. This being had more power than Sirin at her peak and unlike her. He knows how to fight.


Second, the most perplexing thing is that this Herrscher can wield Honkai to perfection. Even when he released a huge amount of Honkai no one died, it was as if his power didn't rot away life.


That might explain why there was no eruption when he was born as Herrscher.


"...A human who can control Herrscher's powers. How curious. Someone did it before I was able to do it." The blonde man commented as he solved this puzzle with few clues. The best clue was that he talked casually with Fu Hua. 


Even better clue that he didn't kill anyone or comment on ending all life on the planet.


"What now? The armours we have don't work."


"Yes. Well, it appears his power doesn't just affect the balance of the individual body, it's at a far greater scale."


"...Greater scale?"


"Yes. The second encounter has proof." He showed the data he got from the fight to Fu Hua.


"In the second fight, he increased gravity."


"...Gravity? But…"


"Exactly! Thankfully the armour had built-in scanners. I was able to pick this data."


He didn't comment on the fact that this second encounter was nothing more than bait to learn more about this Herrscher.


'Now the question is… The balance… is it AT THAT level, or just mimicking…' The blonde man somewhat frowned because if the balance is AT THAT level then they are dealing with a being far more terrifying than ever before.