What… was going on?
Where was her power? Where was her authority?
Sirin refused to believe it. She swung her arm again—harder this time—and even "voiced" it like an idiot.
"Hah!!"
Still… nothing.
Not even a spark.
In this peaceful world that obeyed physics to the letter, the so-called "Herrscher of the Void," stripped of special effects and filters, looked like nothing more than a chuuni girl having an episode in public.
Sirin kept that hand extended into empty air. The snarl on her face congealed into confusion—then confusion drained into a blank, disbelieving void.
"How can this be? How can this be?! My power—my authority—!"
This time, Su Yu genuinely couldn't hold it in.
Watching that "god" wear an expression like she was constipated into enlightenment—it was more satisfying than clearing any AAA game at 100%.
"Understand now, Queen of Honkai?"
"In this world, the power you're so proud of is useless."
"You and I—we're ants tied to the same string now."
"As long as I live, you can keep existing by borrowing Kiana's body."
"And if I die…"
He bared his teeth in a grin that made the Herrscher's eyes flare with rage.
"…then don't even dream of living."
"Shut up!"
That line stabbed straight into Sirin's most sensitive nerve. The golden pupils ignited with a violent, furious light.
Su Yu's limp muscles snapped tight in an instant—like an animal gathering the last scraps of strength before a final burst.
This was the moment he'd been waiting for.
If the Herrscher had truly fully taken Kiana's body, she wouldn't be in such a hurry to torment him.
She was doing this to inflict pain—using his suffering to keep hammering at Kiana's already-frayed nerves.
So he had only one move left.
All-in.
Kiana, you disaster magnet.
When this is over, I'm docking your snacks—chips. Three bags.
Su Yu's body, a moment ago slack as a corpse, tightened like a bow drawn to the limit.
Right when her emotions spiked—right when she was loosest—
"Since your little show is over," he rasped, "and since you don't dare gamble your life with mine…"
He sucked in air, forced his core to fire—
and then—
"Then get out of her body—"
"—GET THE HELL OUT!!"
"THUD!!!"
Su Yu didn't give a damn about technique.
Didn't give a damn about mercy.
He threw his head back, then launched it forward like a cannonball—slamming full force into that arrogant forehead.
"Wgh—AAAH!!"
The "god" who'd been posturing about destroying the world a second ago shrieked like a girl getting cheap-shotted by a street thug.
With zero defense, the Herrscher saw white—like a sledgehammer had smashed her face head-on.
Raw, physical pain instantly shattered her proud consciousness—along with whatever dignity she still pretended to have.
Both of them cried out, clutching their foreheads as they toppled in opposite directions.
A welt bloomed immediately, hot and burning; their skulls rang like struck bells.
But that pain—like a forced reboot switch—did more than knock the Herrscher out.
It also yanked Kiana halfway back from that suicidal abyss.
She lay flat on the icy, rough concrete, gulping air in huge ragged breaths, her gaze still unfocused.
In her ears:
The rooftop wind screaming past.
The roar from below—tens of thousands chanting "Encore! Encore!"
And beside her—
Su Yu's breathing, like a broken bellows: heavy, pained, but real.
She was back.
Really back.
Feeling the sting on her forehead.
Feeling the body—her body—answer again.
"Waaah… uuu… WAAAAA—!"
Kiana curled up on the dusty rooftop and burst into ugly, shameless sobbing.
She cried like a child who'd been lost for too long, finally found her way home—and then collapsed from sheer grievance.
And in that moment, a memory surfaced: that year at Chiba Academy… the girl she'd grabbed and refused to let go.
So this was how it felt.
Was this what you felt back then?
Kiana stared at the night sky, fireworks staining the clouds with color, tears blurring everything as old scenes rushed in like floodwater:
Raiden Mei standing at the edge of a rooftop—behind her, purple lightning of Honkai energy raging—her eyes hollow like a doll.
Kiana sprinting forward, gripping Mei's hand with everything she had—even as electricity burned her palms—refusing to release, stubbornly believing that if she could just hold on, Mei would live.
Back then… what was Mei thinking?
Was she, like Kiana now, convinced that living required more courage than dying?
Was she also branded "monster" and "calamity," believing that disappearing was the best ending for everyone?
So that's it.
Kiana had never truly understood what the girl she dragged back from hell had to endure afterward—how much courage it took to choose to live.
A late-arriving understanding seeped into her chaotic mind, salty with tears.
So the one being saved… hurts like this too.
So giving someone hope… can be a crushing burden.
After that, Mei had put a bomb in her own heart.
That wasn't weakness.
It was a final, ruthless wager—made to fight the Herrscher of Thunder inside her to the bitter end.
It was the most brutal way she could think of to protect Kiana—and protect the world.
So living… really takes that much courage…
"Mei… was this what you felt?"
Kiana clenched her shirt over her chest—where her heart hammered, where a Herrscher core had once sat.
Tears smeared her sight. Time and space blurred with it.
"It hurts… it really… hurts…"
Below, inside the dome, a wave of sound exploded louder than anything before.
Eden's concert had entered the final encore.
She stood center-stage again, microphone in hand, head tilted toward the sky—almost like she was looking through the roof, watching two battered souls who'd just crawled back from the edge.
A pure white beam rose from the center of the stage, piercing the sea of glowsticks and shooting up into the heavens, bleaching the rooftop in stark light.
Eden sang.
A song about redemption and reunion—gentle as an old-world evening wind, yet carrying a power that could pierce straight through years.
The lyrics rode the night air, slipped through layers of distance, and landed on the rooftop—into the ears of two wrecked figures.
Kiana listened, and she listened to the man beside her breathing—one harsh pull after another.
Su Yu's arm still trembled. His knee still bled. His breaths still shook with aftershock.
"You saw it too, didn't you, Kiana?"
Su Yu turned his head, looking at the girl crying like a smudged-up kitten, and forced out a grin through clenched pain.
"See clearly now?"
"That queen who scared you so badly you couldn't sleep… that 'invincible' monster…"
"She's on the same starting line as you now."
"No Honkai energy. No subspace spears. No Imaginary Space."
"Just… a chuuni."
"Like that middle-school kid next door who thinks his right hand seals a black dragon."
He coughed, wheezed, then added the finishing stab, eyes shining with vicious satisfaction:
"And honestly? She's worse than him."
"At least that kid wouldn't get launched by a shut-in with a headbutt."
....
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