Watching the transport carrying Cecilia and Lewis plummet from the sky, Lucius fell into an uncharacteristic silence.
The scene before him was far too familiar. Even without replaying the death sequence, Lucius could guess that the crash had everything to do with Shigure Kira's murderous singing.
With a somewhat exhausted sigh, Lucius extended his finger and dragged it backward through the air in front of him.
With that motion, the transport that had been plunging beneath the floating island rose back up, reversing along its takeoff trajectory and returning to the airfield.
Very quickly, time rewound to the moment Cecilia and Lewis were still chatting at the airfield.
"I can't shake the feeling that I'm a fake Rank S Valkyrie..."
"My Lady, you really do have a sense of humor."
Watching the two finish their conversation and board the transport again, the 'Amber' who had been quietly standing beside Lucius suddenly spoke: "Lucius — aren't you going to do something? If you leave it alone, they'll probably still crash."
At that, Lucius shook his head: "This time I won't directly interfere with their mental states — to avoid the Stigmata that are about to be born being incompatible with them, which would cause them to simply go insane."
But then he smiled and added: "Besides — I am currently Schicksal's Archbishop. Naturally I should solve the problem in a manner befitting an Archbishop."
"What method?"
"Account suspension."
Lucius used the Archbishop of Schicksal's administrative privileges to ban Shigure Kira's account along with every song uploaded under it.
"As for the reason... let's go with 'potential harm to the psychological wellbeing and physical safety of minors.'"
Very quickly, Lucius completed the action.
At that moment, Cecilia and Lewis also finished their conversation and boarded the transport once more, soaring up into the clouds.
Sure enough — this time the aircraft took off smoothly and without incident.
Watching Cecilia and Lewis depart, the 'Amber' beside Lucius asked with some puzzlement: "Account suspension... is that really something befitting an Archbishop of Schicksal?"
"Of course — the Archbishop of Schicksal's authority is unlimited. I have the right to suspend anyone's account." Lucius said without the slightest hesitation.
The 'Amber' beside Lucius tore the amber goggles off her face and complained mercilessly: "That is absolutely not how the Archbishop of Schicksal operates!"
But after complaining, she lapsed into a strange silence.
Amber — or rather, Kallen, who was playing the role of Amber — thought back to some information about this world's Otto she had seen recently. Specifically, the entries about this world's Kallen in Schicksal's official textbooks.
After reading through them, Kallen had felt a powerful urge to jump off the edge of the floating island.
The content in those pages could not be described as having anything in common with her — she could only say that even at her most middle-school-chunnibyou phase she couldn't have written anything this embarrassing.
Especially since it all seemed to have been written with her as the protagonist. Even just glancing at a few lines gave her such an overwhelming surge of shame that she wanted to chisel a crack in the nearest wall and hide inside it.
Thinking of this, the corner of Kallen's mouth could no longer hold. It began twitching uncontrollably.
"This world's Otto — how is he such a complete disaster?"
Lucius smiled but didn't answer, instead pivoting to another topic.
"Alright — the Schicksal side of things is done. We need to turn our attention to Siberia. Your job now is to play the role of Theresa."
Hearing Lucius's instruction, Kallen asked with some confusion: "Wasn't I supposed to be playing Amber?"
"You'll be handling both roles, of course. The two characters don't exist in the same place at the same time anyway — just swap identities when needed. It's simply one person playing two parts."
"Your Binding Authority can substitute for the Divine Key — Oath of Judah. However, your pseudo-divine authority can't come in here. I need to be able to rewind the timeline repeatedly, and your pseudo-divine authority would jam the rewinding."
"Fine — I'll just follow your arrangements. It can't be worse than dying over and over again." Kallen gave a quiet sigh but didn't refuse. "But Lucius — aren't you going to tell me the script for this one?"
What puzzled Kallen was that although Lucius had drawn a portion of her consciousness into this Stigma space early on, he hadn't briefed her on the script the way he had every time before.
"Other parts of the script I can tell you in advance — but for the Second Honkai War specifically, I think you should go and see it for yourself. As for your mission, just follow the orders of Archbishop 'Otto.'"
Lucius felt that the expression on Kallen's face when she witnessed what Otto did during the Second Honkai War would be quite entertaining.
And something this fun — how could he miss it?
"I don't have a problem with that — but Lucius, with this much freedom you're not worried things will go off the rails?"
Hearing Kallen's concern, Lucius smiled confidently.
"It's fine. At critical moments I'll intervene. In this world I am divine providence itself — even if things go sideways there are countless ways to pull the story back on track."
"So treat it like you're playing a live-action roleplay game. I'll arrange everything."
"Alright then... so what do I do next?"
"The Babylon Tower laboratory located in Siberia has sent out a distress signal. A Herrscher is suspected to have been born. Archbishop Otto Apocalypse of Schicksal has ordered Rank S Valkyrie Theresa — that's you — to go and investigate."
"The Snow Wolf Squad's Patrick has already reached the vicinity of the Babylon Tower laboratory ahead of schedule and is standing by to receive you."
Kallen looked around at the empty airfield and asked: "Lucius — how do I get to the Babylon Tower laboratory? Also by transport?"
Lucius shook his head.
"No need for anything that complicated. Having Cecilia travel by transport is just to buy some time since it's not yet her moment to enter the scene."
"As for you — there's a more convenient method."
Kallen asked curiously: "What method?"
Lucius crooked a finger at Kallen beside him and said with a smile: "Come closer and I'll whisper it to you."
Seeing Lucius being so mysterious about it, Kallen was somewhat curious — but still instinctively leaned in toward him.
"Lucius, why are you being so secretive about this..." Before she could finish speaking, she felt Lucius place his hand against her back.
Then a force surged from behind. Kallen lost her footing and toppled off the edge of the airfield.
The wind roared past her ears. Kallen watched the floating island above her rapidly shrinking into the distance — but she still caught sight of Lucius standing at the airfield's edge, waving at her.
"Kallen — safe travels."
"LUCIUS YOU ABSOLUTE FOOL AAAAAHHH——!!!"
As she plummeted, Kallen's size began rapidly shrinking.
Everyone currently in this Stigma space was essentially a consciousness construct — size could be freely adjusted.
Amber was temporarily going offline. Coming online next was the Archbishop's beloved granddaughter, Theresa.
In the darkness, a newly born consciousness was awakening.
And as she awakened, the memories connected to her began regaining color from their grey and white blankness.
Very quickly, she remembered her own name.
— Sirin.
And with the name came a solid anchor for all those drifting memories, which began rapidly converging around it.
And so the memories of the short life lived by the girl called Sirin began coming into focus.
From her earliest memories, she had lived with her parents in an ordinary little town.
A father who drank too much. A mother who complained endlessly. The house was usually filled with arguments. Life was hardly comfortable, but it was quiet enough to get through.
Until one day, a Honkai disaster erupted in the area surrounding the town. A Honkai Beast broke loose and went on a rampage through the streets.
She and her parents were fortunate enough to survive — their small home came through without damage.
But unfortunately — in the attack, she had been contaminated by Honkai energy.
Beneath her parents' horrified eyes, deep violet veins began crawling across her body.
And from that moment on, the nightmare began.
One day, while her parents were away, a group of people in thick protective suits kicked down the door and seized her.
In the final moment before her consciousness went dark, she caught sight of the moth-shaped emblem on those suits.
When she opened her eyes again, she was already imprisoned in an isolation pod inside a cold laboratory.
For a very long time after that, she was like a lab mouse sealed inside an isolation chamber — her body cut open, injected with substances that made her wish she were dead.
She didn't know what she had done wrong to deserve such suffering.
She had begged for mercy. She had cried. She had struggled. But those devils in white protective suits had never cared — even her screams of pain were nothing to them but data points to be recorded.
If there was truly a hell in this world, it probably looked something like that.
During those days of despair and pain, there seemed to always be a voice whispering in her ear.
It seemed to be saying that if she was willing, she could obtain boundless power and kill everyone.
But even having fallen into hell, she still lacked the courage to answer that call.
She didn't want to kill anyone. She didn't have the courage to kill anyone. She only wanted to go home — back to that home that wasn't particularly warm, but kept out the wind and the cold.
Perhaps some deity truly did answer her prayer. In that laboratory, a Honkai Beast happened to break free from its restraints and went on a killing spree.
And that Honkai Beast seemed to have no interest in harming her. She took the opportunity and escaped from the laboratory.
Drawing on a constitution that had somehow grown stronger without her knowing why, she trekked through the wind and snow, and finally came home — and saw her parents again.
Her usually cold mother held her with an intensity that showed how terrified she had been of losing her daughter again.
And her father, too, seemed genuinely relieved. That Slavic man who drank and had a short temper became unexpectedly gentle.
Sirin thought — if there was truly a heaven in this world, it probably lived in this small home.
In the warmth of her parents' care, she felt even the bone-deep pain in her body gradually recede.
And so when exhaustion finally overtook her, she nestled in her mother's arms and fell asleep — just like when she was small.
She thought she had finally escaped hell.
But the nightmare moths returned the very next day, forced their way into the house, and seized her again.
In her despair, Sirin called out to her mother and father.
And then she heard her father say: "Sir — didn't we agree on 5,000 zenny? Why is it only 500?"
Every cut her body had endured in that laboratory, every injection that had made her wish she were dead — none of it came close to the pain that pierced through her heart as she watched her father and mother take that 500 zenny from the Fire Moth officer's hands with obsequious, groveling smiles.
The world shattered in that moment.
Sirin heard the deity call to her once more. This time, she chose to embrace it.
In that instant, the longing for family that had lived in her heart was burned to ash by betrayal and fury. Burned along with it was the humanity of the girl named Sirin.
What came after in her memories was rather monotonous — killing, and more killing.
Whether it was her fawning parents, or the terrified Fire Moth forces — everything within her sight was killed clean.
Until she encountered a strange, obnoxiously pink creature.
She hadn't particularly wanted to kill this pink-haired thing — after all, it wasn't human, and wasn't within her designated work scope.
But this thing had the audacity to push its luck, coming to provoke her with a bow and arrow.
As a divine apostle — as the Herrscher who commanded space — could she let that slide? Absolutely not!
And so she channeled the authority she had received from the deity and went to obliterate that obnoxiously pink creature.
And then... she died spectacularly, her heart pierced clean through.
Babylon Tower laboratory. On top of an operating table.
The girl with long purple hair snapped her eyes open and cried out with great indignation: "That obnoxiously pink creature — I'll kill you!!!"
But very quickly she became aware of her surroundings. It was plainly obvious this was somewhere resembling a Fire Moth laboratory.
Sirin's face showed some puzzlement. "Strange — didn't I lose to some obnoxiously pink woman?"
At that moment, the laboratory hatch was suddenly pushed open.
A researcher in thick isolation gear wheeled in a cart holding several vials of deep violet liquid. Upon noticing Sirin's open eyes, he blinked — then said with delighted surprise: "A consciousness remaining intact at that Honkai concentration — I knew the research direction was right."
Saying that, he reached for one of the syringes filled with deep violet liquid on the cart and extended it toward Sirin's neck.
"Little one — don't let me down. You have to hold on! Whether or not I get a commendation from His Grace the Archbishop is riding entirely on you."
Looking at this person who clearly didn't know how to value his own life — and especially at those clothes that dredged up every memory of her past in the laboratory — Sirin's golden pupils flickered with murderous light, her killing intent already boiling over.
She had originally been about to simply squash this insect. But upon sensing the near-depleted Honkai energy within her body, and the powerful Honkai energy fluctuations pulsing from the syringe in his hand, Sirin stopped resisting. She let him inject the Honkai energy reagent into the side of her neck.
As the liquid saturated with high-concentration Honkai energy flooded in, her nearly drained body began greedily absorbing it.
At the same time, the smile curling Sirin's lips grew increasingly wild.
"Ha... ha ha ha..."
The researcher was startled by Sirin's voice. He took in the savage grin on her face — and simultaneously the instruments monitoring Honkai energy concentration began shrieking warnings.
"What's happening — why is the Honkai energy level so far above the threshold?!" The researcher's voice was saturated with alarm. "This won't do, I need to immediately——BANG!"
The researcher had barely stepped up to the operating table before he collapsed lifelessly to the floor. At his chest, a gaping hole punched clean through his body was pumping blood continuously.
He twitched a few times — then went still.
Beside him, Sirin had somehow broken free of her restraints and was now flicking the remaining bloodstains from her hand.
"Ha... ha ha hahahahahaha!" Sirin stood with both hands on her hips, laughing arrogantly. "I, the Herrscher of the Void, have returned from death — deity, I will not disappoint your expectations!"
After laughing with great bravado for a while, Sirin gradually reined it in. Though her ultimate objective was to destroy the world, Sirin had never thought of herself as someone who killed for the love of killing.
Her killing wasn't for the sake of destruction itself — it was a search for a feeling of security.
A security where she didn't have to worry about being hurt, or worry about being betrayed.
The world's malice came at her like an endless tide, and it made her feel deeply unsafe. If that was how it was — then she would simply destroy the entire world.
As long as not a single person remained in existence, no one could ever hurt her again. She would gain eternal security.
"Heh... humanity — prepare to face your destruction."
"This time, I absolutely will not lose!"
In this moment, her conviction was unshakeable — as though it could overcome any obstacle.
Even if that obnoxiously pink creature appeared before her again, Sirin was confident she could obliterate it to dust!
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