And she was the only one who might be able to save this shattered world. Whether out of old hatred or the instinct of a Herrscher, that woman had to die by her hand.
There was no need for someone like her to exist.
She deserved to perish alongside this rotten world. That was the fate awaiting her!
After paying a heavy price to eliminate the previous Herrscher, specialists had begun analyzing the possibility of even stronger newborn Herrschers.
The artificial Herrschers were not as powerful as a newly born Herrscher, but they held the advantage in numbers. For now, they managed to restrain the newborn one.
Within the ruins reduced to rubble by thunder.
A collapsed slab shifted, then was pushed aside by a bloodstained hand. Emerging once more into the open air, Kiana was covered in injuries, blood trailing down her forehead in winding streaks. She knelt over Herta's body, one hand braced against the ground, panting heavily in a miserable state.
"Thank goodness..."
The instant the lightning brought down the sanatorium, she had instinctively shielded Herta beneath her. Fortunately, both of them were still alive.
She did not stop to think about why she had withstood the lightning or survived being buried under debris with only injuries to show for it.
Pain spread through her weakened body, as though every bone had been shattered.
Forcing herself up, she knew it was not safe here. She could see the distant battle erupting. They were within its range—impossible to ignore.
Herta she had saved said nothing. Her expression did not change. Her gaze remained calm.
As if nothing had happened, she watched Kiana struggle to stand, her movements stiff, nearly collapsing several times from her injuries.
She reached up and touched her face. It felt damp. When she raised her hand, her fingers were stained red.
"Why?"
This was not her blood. It was Kiana's—the blood that had seeped from wounds inflicted by falling debris.
Scalding drops trickled down her cheek and onto her body. Herta could not understand. In such danger, why had she thrown herself over her?
The feeling was... strange.
Remaining vigilant, enduring the pain as she searched for an escape route, Kiana cast her a puzzled glance. "What did you say? Were you talking to me?"
"Why did you throw yourself over me just now?"
"I was saving you!"
Kiana raised her voice slightly, aware her actions had been reckless and afraid the sounds of distant combat would drown out her explanation.
The battle nearby was fierce. This place was far from safe. Lightning struck from the sky every so often.
"It's dangerous here. Let's go?"
"Saving me... Did you think I couldn't survive in this environment? That I needed you to save me?"
Kiana parted her lips. Something felt off about Herta. No normal person would ask such a question.
And at a time like this, was that really what mattered?
One misstep, and they would both die here.
"I know you must have trump cards," she said earnestly. "But I want to protect you."
"Protect me?"
With what? With a blank slate who had forgotten everything, who possessed nothing but resistance to Honkai energy?
Herta had indeed been a step too slow. She had not expected the Herrscher's target to be her, nor that she would strike so directly and swiftly, catching her off guard.
She wanted to tell Kiana not to do something like that again.
She was not that fragile. She would not die so easily.
But when she met those clear azure eyes—saw the sincerity within them—the words were swallowed before they could leave her mouth.
"You're the only friend I can trust," Kiana explained. "I don't want to see you get hurt."
"Tch."
Herta rose from the ground, brushed the dust from her clothes, and with a faint snort, conjured a door out of thin air as though performing magic.
"Follow me."
She did not waste words. The moment the door solidified, she stepped through, her voice fading beyond the translucent frame.
Kiana stared in shock, yet did not hesitate. She hurried after Herta and stepped through the doorway as well.
As soon as she entered, the door vanished, as if it had never existed.
At the exact moment it disappeared, several bolts of lightning struck the spot in succession, blasting a massive crater into the ground.
"Herta!"
The Herrscher witnessed Herta's escape with her own eyes. The chaos in her mind was swallowed entirely by fury.
"Get out of my way!"
After crossing the threshold, Kiana's body went limp. Her injuries looked severe—and in truth, they were.
Fortunately, before she could collapse, a hand gripped her firmly and kept her from crashing to the ground.
It was Herta.
She did not look at Kiana. Instead, she surveyed the surrounding high-rises and the chaotic streets where monsters rampaged.
"What a pity. Teleportation can only reach this far." A faint note of regret could be heard in her voice.
It was precisely because the range was limited that she had never planned to use this method to escape before. With such short distance, it was easy to be tracked down and captured again.
The risk was too great.
Which was why Herta had merely kept it as insurance, with no real intention of using it.
"Where are we...?"
The power grid had not completely collapsed. A few streetlights and neon signs still glowed in the night. Yet under the circumstances of a Honkai Eruption, that cold light only made the unease worse.
The newly erupted Honkai energy far surpassed any previous outbreak. Its density had reached a terrifying level.
Even those who had been injected with resistance serums were corroded by the Honkai under such scale, turning into walking corpses.
Herta had used some unknown method.
The wandering monsters treated the two of them as if they did not exist, as though they were invisible.
"This is the city center." Herta helped her steady herself instead of tossing her aside. "Follow me this way."
"Are we leaving the city?"
"No. We'll find a place to wait until they finish fighting."
By "they," she meant the newborn Herrscher and the artificial Herrschers. Herta intended to wait until a victor emerged.
"But none of them are good people," Kiana said anxiously. "Once they're done, won't they come after us?"
Herta let out a soft laugh, confidence tinged with barely concealed arrogance. "Heh. With their abilities, once they lose my trail, it won't be so easy to find me again."
Only then did Kiana relax.
She followed closely, moving unhindered through the chaos. She did not know where Herta was leading her, nor did she ask. She simply gritted her teeth and endured.
When they finally found a relatively safe spot with few enemies roaming nearby, Herta settled her there.
Then she turned and prepared to head elsewhere alone.
Kiana wanted to follow—but a single sentence from Herta stopped her in place.
"Don't drag me down."
...
Herta did not leave for long. She soon returned safely from outside, shutting the door behind her and sealing off the hair-raising noises beyond.
Calmly, she placed several items on the table, opened a bag, and took out medical supplies.
"You went to gather supplies just now?"
Kiana, who had been waiting quietly, widened her eyes slightly and looked at Herta in surprise. Over this period of time, she had come to understand her personality to some extent.
Combined with the outside world's evaluation of her, it was not hard to guess what kind of person she was.
"I told you. I don't intend to drag along dead weight." Herta took out the medicine and walked over, looking down at her injured state. "Once you're better, they should have decided the outcome as well. Then we'll leave."
In other words—
When Herta had said she would wait for them to finish fighting, it was not because she intended to stay and do something.
It was because Kiana's injuries were too severe, and she wanted to wait until she recovered a bit before moving?
Kiana stared blankly at Herta.
She had always thought that Herta did not truly care about her at all, that she was merely a dispensable diversion.
Even so, she had still wanted to follow her. After all, in this world she had no one and nowhere to rely on. Only Herta had been willing to give her shelter and accept her.
But now... could she allow herself to hope for a little more?
Perhaps Herta cared about her just a little more than she appeared to?
Perhaps there was at least a trace of concern?
"Thank you."
Kiana obediently allowed her wounds to be cleaned and bandaged. Though it hurt, she did not show the slightest discomfort. She simply looked at Herta with shining eyes.
Being trusted was not a new experience for Herta.
After all, she was Herta. Wasn't it only natural for people to trust her?
But this—
to be trusted wholeheartedly, to be watched with such unwavering faith, those eyes seeming almost magical in the way they drew her attention—this feeling was a first.
It was because she had placed Kiana on equal footing. Though the girl was not particularly bright, she was still an important figure walking the path toward godhood.
She deserved to be looked at properly.
After an indeterminate stretch of silence, once Kiana's external wounds had been treated and wrapped, Herta finally spoke again.
"You weren't this agreeable before." The remark sounded half like she was talking to herself, half like she was casually making conversation.
Lost in her thoughts, Kiana came back to herself and tilted her head slightly in confusion. "...Before?"
Herta gave a faint snort and said nothing more. She had started the topic yet felt there was no need to elaborate. Kiana had lost her memory. Even if she explained, the girl would not understand.
She had been thinking of all the times she had been rejected. Though she herself had not been entirely serious when she spoke, Kiana had not given her the slightest face.
Seeing Herta fall silent, Kiana grew uneasy. "Did we not get along well before?"
If that were the case, she could understand why Herta treated her this way.
"Not particularly familiar, that's all."
Kiana felt both disappointed and relieved. At least there had been no unpleasantness. Although she remembered nothing, she did not fully trust Herta's claim that they had been friends in the past.
She gathered her courage and asked, "What about now?"
Herta stood and looked at her. After a moment of thought, she said, "Average."
Average?
Kiana's face paled, and she lowered her head.
No wonder she had felt that Herta did not care much about her. So in Herta's heart, their relationship was merely average.
An indescribable sense of disappointment welled up inside her.
To her now, the only person she knew, relied on, and trusted was Herta.
She trusted Herta with all her heart.
But to Herta—their relationship was merely average.
"Not satisfied? If you don't want something average, then what do you want? Do you want to be friends with me?"
Why ask that?
Kiana was silent for a long while. Finally, gathering her courage, she looked up again. "I do!"
"But I don't make friends with idiots."
Her throat tightened.
She thought of all the rumors surrounding Herta. For a moment, she did not know what to say. With Herta's achievements, she could study for a hundred years and still not compare.
How many people could stand on equal footing with Herta?
Who would dare claim to be intelligent in front of her?
This was probably a tactful rejection.
Kiana nodded.
Though her physical wounds had been treated, her heart somehow hurt even more.
She felt—perhaps she was afraid.
Afraid that one day, Herta would grow bored and simply discard her, hand her over to someone else, or leave her behind.
Seeing her nod, Herta's lips twitched, but she said nothing. She casually placed the supplies on the nearby table and ignored her.
She truly did not understand how Ruan Mei had managed to tolerate spending time with such an idiot—and even seemed to get along quite well.
How had she not been driven to death by irritation?
Watching Herta busy herself with something, Kiana did not dare disturb her. She was afraid that doing so would exhaust Herta's patience with her.
Yet she did not dare rest either.
Although Herta had said those people would not find them for a while, what if something happened? If she fell asleep and an accident occurred, would she not only cause trouble for Herta?
Even if she could not do much—she believed she could at least buy one or two seconds for Herta to escape.
Kiana stared blankly toward the window.
The soundproofing was excellent. Almost nothing from outside could be heard.
Through the glass, she could see thunderclouds churning. As she watched lightning surge within the heavy clouds, an inexplicable sense of familiarity stirred in her.
Yet she did not know why it felt familiar.
She recalled the day she had opened her eyes. Although Herta had spoken of them knowing each other in the past, Kiana had desperately wanted to believe her.
But she knew—she was not an ordinary human.
There was suspicion in her heart, and fear as well. Back at the shelter, she had asked around and learned some things.
She felt... she might also be a Herrscher.
She simply did not understand why she lacked the terrifying destructive power the others possessed.
When the Federation had abducted her and sent her to Herta, she had thought her uniqueness had been exposed.
Curled up in a small corner, she did not know why she had been born in this way, nor what purpose she was meant to fulfill.
Like that Herrscher just now?
Kiana did not think she wanted that.
When Herta had asked what she wanted to do, she could not help but ask herself the same question.
What did she truly want?
And why had she appeared in the form of a human?
Fortunately, she had met Herta.
Even if she did not know what Herta intended to do, staying by her side was, at the very least, safe.