Kurokami Arata....
Night had already descended over Nagazora and surprisingly, Raiden Ryoma was home earlier than normal.
"Are you ready for your first day of high school, Mei ?" The father questioned his daughter, wondering if her daughter was physically and mentally prepared for high school life.
It was the night before the school year started. The following morning, Monday, would mark the first day of Raiden Mei's high school life.
Raiden Ryoma was always busy with work. So busy in fact, that he barely got any time to actually spend with his daughter. So, this one among the lucky few days where he was able to come home early.
"I'm ready, dad. I'm excited to enter high school and meet with my friends again." Mei smiled, thinking about the numerous females she's grown to consider "friends" do to their closeness and the years that they've known each other.
On the dinner table, for a file. A file with details about a certain young student, a little away from his position to prevent any food from spilling on the documents.
"What that for dad ? You never bring your documents to the dinner table." Mei noticed the files and questioned her father's puzzling behaviour.
Ryoma smiled and moved with his free hand to open the files and flip through the pages.
"A new applicant to Chiba Academy. He applied through the scholarship I was giving out." He remembers looking through the details about this kid.
Kurokami Arata.
15 years old.
Tall for his age. Raven black hair. Crimson eyes of gold that tell tales of time itself.
According to these documents, the boy was a gifted child that easily scored high in all of his exams. In fact, he managed to pass a college difficulty question paper with flying colours.
According to his files, the boy never got in any fights or caused any commotion. It was usually the girls around him that did, while he tried to avoid it all. Whenever his classmates are in trouble, he chooses to help them out even if he doesn't remembers them.
"A transfer student ?" Mei blinked.
It has been a long time since a transfer student has had the pleasure of coming to Chiba Academy.
"Really? Is she an important person? Is she famous?" Raiden Mei couldn't think of other possibilities aside from the transfer student being the daughter of a very influential person.
Either that or she's extremely intelligent. Mei herself has seen the questions on the paper required to pass the scholarship — they were beyond what any student her age should and would know.
"A bit of both." Her father replied.
On once hand, Kurokami Arata had proven to excel in academics — Because he had learnt numerous things above his age rating, and because of his special constitution.
On the other hand, he was being recommended by high ranking individuals and had political sway — thanks Otto — so he was clearly no ordinary boy.
"I hope she's a nice person. I can't wait to meet her!" Ryoma the blinked, before turning towards his daughter blankly as he remembered one crucial detail.
Mei thought the new student was a girl.
"Actually, Mei... The transfer student is a boy. His name is Kurokami Arata." Raiden Ryoma corrected his daughter, making her state at him blankly for a short bit.
Boy ?
A boy ?
He was a boy ?
The new student was a guy ?
Chiba Academy has been an all-girls school for as long as Mei can remember. Mei studied there since her childhood and grew up with numerous female peers, many of whom she cherished. She heard the news that her school had decided to become co-ed — meaning now even boys could attend classes there.
On one hand, many girls were excited or anticipating the arrival of a male body of students.
On the other hand, some were not really fond of that change.
Not that it really meant anything.
Chiba suddenly becoming co-ed doesn't really mean anything considering the already low male population count.
The chances of a male student coming to Chiba — a school for the elite that entirely had only a female body and female staff — was abysmal.
"W-what..? A boy ?" Mei muttered in surprise.
"Yes, a boy. He'll be the only male student in the entire campus, so be sure to help him. He has... a condition." Ryoma started to trail off at the end, because he genuinely didn't understand how to explain this.
"That boy has severe forgetfulness. He will routinely forget a lot of things, so he might need you to help him at certain times. I'm sure you'll be able to."
•••
And so, Mei waited.
On the first day of high school, she stared at the empty seat that was next to her. Her feet tapped lightly against the floor repeatedly, in an uncharacteristically impatient manner.
It would be a lie to say that Mei didn't feel nervous.
She was in fact, quite nervous.
Numerous questions bobbed around in her brain.
What kind of person was he ? Would be better able to handle such an environment ? Will he be able to manage in an unfamiliar place, in an all-girls school ? Will he be a nice person ?
Will he be willing to be her friend ? Will he view her as Raiden Mei ? Or will he also just see her as the heiress of ME Corp and admire her from a distance ?
She observed the boy as he entered the room.
He was pleasant to look at. Especially his eyes; they were breathtakingly beautiful.
Like polished rubies glowing in the horizon from the sunlight reflecting off its sides. Mei swore she saw moving glints of gold within those gem-like eyes of his.
After introducing himself, he took his seat right next to her and sighed. He was getting his stuff out of his bag, when a voice called out to him, making him look at the girl seated next to him.
"Kurokami-san?"
Arata peeked up at the voice and looked at his Mei, his eyes have a glint of curiosity within them.
"Raiden Mei." She introduced herself, smiling at Arata softly. "I hope we can be friends. And I hope you have a wonderful time here at Chiba."
His gaze didn't leave her. She felt his state, the way his eyes moved to look at her, as if he noticed something peculiar.
She noticed the shift in his facial expression. The change was almost microscopic.
Was he sizing her up ?
Mei could practically read the curiosity and intrigue he possessed.
He smiled back at Mei and said, "It's nice to meet you as well. I would love to be your friend."
And that's how they first met.
That's how the Queen of Thunder met the the God Who Devours Time Itself.
Mei and Arata started talking briefly.
It was here that Mei noticed the peculiarity of his behaviour. He was completely casual with her.
He didn't treat her even remotely differently than he did any other person. He treated her like she was an ordinary girl. Whether it was because he simply didn't know who she was, or because he didn't care for her status was an unknown for her.
And so, after class ended, Mei decided to help him with something.
"Kurokami-san, would you like for me to take you on a tour around Chiba, to get you acquainted with your surroundings." Mei offered with a kind smile on her face, stunning Arata.
"Are you sure ? Would I not be bothering you ?" He rubbed the back of his own neck and questioned, making Raiden Mei giggle.
"Don't worry, I'll make it worthwhile..."
"I want you to settle in peacefully, Kurokami-san. Especially knowing that you're from afar and your mental condition."
Arata blinked.
Mental condition ?
'What mental condition is she talking about ?'
Because as far as he was aware, he didn't really have any mental conditions or any health issues.
•••
PROMETHEUS was staring.
Staring at the dead of space.
Staring at the Eternal Moon.
Staring at the remnants of an ancient battle.
Staring at the gateway to the seal.
PROMETHEUS had flown to the moon. She was now just levitating in the vacuum of space, staring blankly at the shattered pieces of the moon.
She was unaffected by the reality warping Adishakti energy that had enveloped the moon. She was, I'm fact, easily able to ignore the temporal barriers and slip inside.
But he destination wasn't exactly on the Eternal Moon — but rather, the back of it all.
The moon wasn't completely shattered to pieces. The chunks were mostly different in size and it appears as if someone had crashed through it. Almost two-thirds of the moon was still intact aside from the cracks and Adishakit that kept breaking its surface apart.
But PROMETHEUS was only interested in the dark side of the moon — the part of the moon that is never seen from Earth.
It's chunks don't move or gravitate towards the Earth despite the gravitational pull it experiences. It does not revolve around the earth; so to say, it does not move at all.
It cannot.
The Eternal Moon never moves or experiences change, for it is stuck in a state of chronostasis.
These effects have persisted for over fifty thousand years, but that's only during this 108th cycle, excluding all the previous cycles.
And so, PROMETHEUS gazed upon the moon from behind, staring at the glowing surface of the infected moon.
Cracks along the surface of the moon, glowing in massive lines of amber, as if carved into the moon itself. From the centre of the moon, and propagating outwards like a flower, it looks like some sort of geoglyph built by extraterrestrials.
PROMETHEUS knew exactly what that was — she's seen it oh-so many times during the three odd million years of her lifespan.
A Honkai Death Spot.
PROMETHEUS ignored the absurd concentration of honkai energy and Adishakti around her, floating down to the surface of the moon, doing what should technically be completely impossible.
But PROMETHEUS can do it.
She has permission.
She has the authority to do so.
She was holding onto a glowing orb, pulsing with vibrant cosmic energy that left vein-like marks growing across her hand as she held it.
All around PROMETHEUS were streaks of Adishakti, tearing through the fabric of the universe and giving her a glimpse of worlds far beyond, and of dimensions far higher and lower. Bubble universes visible through cracks in the Imaginary Tree.
"There's the corpse..."
Despite being in space, which is a vacuum, the sound of her voice still travelled thanks to the Adishakti.
PROMETHEUS was looking at a destroyed corpse — though it looked more like a shattered statue of marble.
Pure white.
Female. Humanoid. Wearing a cleavage-revealing dress with a raised collar.
Her body was shattered, arms and legs shattered and scattered. Head severed. Face cracked open and spewing with honkai energy, twisted into a petrified grin of ecstasy.
On her ruined arms were, still pulsing, lines of gold.
Her eyes, formerly bright and fiery, now dull and dead. And yet, they still held that golden colour scheme, despite the cracks.
She had a halo and a vaguely diamond shaped mark over her head, all crumbling and broken.
The 14th Herrscher.
The Herrscher of the End.
PROMETHEUS narrowed her eyes, ignoring the corpse of the second strongest weapon of the Commander of Will.
Instead, she looked over at the rest of the carnage.
Another body, not petrified, but not alive.
This was was dark, contrasting the marble coloured corpse of God.
And it was by no means human.
It was a honkai beast, so absurdly massive in scale that it was asinine.
It was so large in fact, that it encased the entirety of the dark side of the moon. Sprawled out like a bed sheet, this monstrosity was so absurdly large that its severed limbs and fingers actually floated through space and were mistaken for chunks and bits of the moon.
Shattered skull, unhinged jaw, faceless. Some limbs severed, but all limbs sprawled. Twenty limbs; ten arms and ten legs, each pulsing with still-vibrant purple energy of the cosmos.
Three diamond shaped purple energy over its forehead, as if shaped like a three eyed god.
It's chest were ripped open, revealing a tear in reality.
From within that tear, a glitching terminal of darkness and death. PROMETHEUS could see the Commander of Will from beyond, even if just a vague silhouette captured in a shard of frozen time.
The normally expressionless PROMETHEUS frowned.
She traced her finger over the hole in the world with a complicated expression on her face.
"That's not good.." she muttered.
She observed the temporal apparition of [Kurokami-sama] staring up at a colossal monstrosity of black and purple, humanoid in body, with a single, massive purple eye.
"The seal that Kurokami-sama made is slowly coming undone... With each reset, the gap between these worlds become closer once more."
Over three million years since the Ultimate Weapon of the Commander of Will broke out of its creator's influence and banished it across the plane of existence.
Over three million years since the cycles began, with the goal of saving everyone.
And yet, despite the distance, that thing still found ways to intervene, especially during the last twenty loops. Even an emotionless being like PROMETHEUS felt genuine hate for that thing.
"The gap is too small... It may return once more within the next three odd loops. We must succeed this time — I must not fail again! Time is running out!"
If Kurokami-sama doesn't return at THEIR fullest state, empowered further in the very end, all will be for naught.
"I cannot allow that..." Her eyes became sharper, thinking about the other Mahavidya and what she should do about them.