But very quickly Sirin realized she had celebrated far too early.
"Wait — why has my power gotten so weak?" Once the joy of revival faded, Sirin finally noticed the dire state she was in.
The Honkai energy within her body, once as vast and boundless as an ocean, was now nearly depleted. Even her connection to the Void Authority had become extraordinarily sluggish — as though an invisible barrier had been added between them, preventing her from drawing Honkai energy directly from the imaginary space.
Sirin's expression darkened.
"Damn — I need to absorb more Honkai energy and restore my strength as quickly as possible."
But where was there sufficient Honkai energy to be found?
Sirin looked left and right, and ultimately fixed her gaze on the Honkai energy reagents lined up on the cart the researcher had wheeled in.
Without a moment's hesitation, Sirin grabbed them, yanked out the needles, and gulped them all down one after another.
As the reagents entered her body, she felt the depleted Honkai energy reserves within her replenished somewhat.
"Power — is surging back." An intoxicated expression crossed Sirin's face, but it quickly fell again. "Still not enough."
Sirin didn't know where this place was, but looking at the laboratory-like surroundings, it was clearly another testing site belonging to those moth people.
Toward these incomprehensible creatures, her heart surged with a nearly uncontainable killing intent. She intended to wipe out these things that were even less human than she was.
But with the feeble power she currently had, eliminating all of them would still be quite difficult.
"I need Honkai energy. Lots and lots of Honkai energy."
Sirin closed her eyes and sensed her surroundings. Very quickly she detected a powerful Honkai energy reading coming from some distance away — and it appeared to be constrained.
If she could devour that energy, her power might be fully restored.
What Sirin didn't know was that what she was sensing was the Honkai energy reactor that powered the entire Babylon Tower laboratory. But that didn't stop her from knowing that it was her best hope of recovering her strength.
And Sirin's chosen method was to kill her way there.
After drinking all the remaining Honkai energy reagents, feeling her strength partially restored, Sirin's heart was filled with confidence.
In her memories, the power of these moth people wasn't particularly impressive — they could only keep pace with her by relying on heavy firepower.
And it was plainly obvious that a laboratory of this kind wouldn't have the space to house such powerful weapons.
Though she was currently extremely weakened, she was still not something these insects could stop.
And so, after a brief moment of consideration, Sirin decided to simply kill her way forward.
"Hmph! Mere humans — bear witness to the terror of the Herrscher of the Void!"
Very shortly, ear-splitting alarms began sounding throughout the Babylon Tower laboratory, and mixed into those alarms were vast quantities of wailing and pleading.
But very quickly, those cries and screams gradually faded into silence.
Sirin tracked the direction of the Honkai energy reactor and carved a straight line toward it.
When walls were in the way she tore open spatial rifts. When guards and researchers were in the way she put them down. When she found more Honkai energy reagents she drank them down one after another.
In her wake, bodies collapsed one after another — while her own power grew steadily stronger.
"Useless! Useless!! USELESS!!!" The defensive unit blocking her path was swallowed by a spatial rift that abruptly appeared in their midst, leaving behind nothing but a pool of blood amid screams.
"Pathetic! Pathetic! PATHETIC!!!" The mechas that tore through the walls to charge at her were sliced apart by ribbons infused with spatial force, reduced to broken components scattered across the floor.
Amid the roar of explosions, Sirin advanced unstoppably toward the energy zone that housed the Honkai energy reactor.
Arriving at last, she dispatched the final batch of mecha units guarding this location, and the surroundings finally fell silent.
Looking at the tightly sealed door before her, a delighted expression crossed Sirin's face. "My power — is coming back."
Just as she was about to tear open a spatial rift to step through, she detected two life signatures far beyond ordinary humans rapidly approaching.
"Still sending people to die?" Sirin paid it no mind. After cutting her way through the entire Babylon Tower laboratory, her confidence had swelled to the point of nearly overflowing.
Sirin casually tore open a spatial rift to the outside and peered through it at the two figures rushing this way.
One was a woman with greyish-white hair and violet pupils, a voluptuous figure, shouldering a heavy sniper rifle nearly half her own body size.
The other was a small girl with white hair and blue eyes, wearing a nun's habit with a cross on her back, who looked like she had very little power to speak of.
Now before Sirin were two options.
First: charge into the Honkai energy reactor, fully restore her power by absorbing the energy within, and then effortlessly crush these two afterward.
Second: deal with these two first, then go absorb the Honkai energy to restore her power.
Obviously there was nothing to choose here — restoring her power first and then casually crushing these two was the most reliable approach.
And so, without a moment's hesitation, Sirin turned and walked toward those two who clearly didn't know their place, a confident and arrogant smile on her face.
Was there even a choice to make?
She was a Herrscher. Retreating the moment she saw people would be far too embarrassing.
Besides, none of the people here were any match for her. Not everyone was as absurdly overtuned as that obnoxiously pink creature.
"One woman who poses no threat to me, and one tiny little nothing of a girl who looks like she has no power at all. This is in the bag."
"I am the invincible Herrscher of the Void — should I yield to them?"
Rewinding time slightly, before Sirin had awakened within the Babylon Tower laboratory.
A woman with long greyish-white hair and violet eyes, a healthy sun-kissed complexion, and an explosively powerful build was standing outside the Babylon Tower's perimeter, looking around.
This was Shigure Kira's friend — Patrick.
"What a hassle... barely arrived in this world and already up against an enemy at the Herrscher level." Leaning on the heavy sniper rifle standing beside her, Patrick stared up at the snow-filled sky with a face full of worry.
Not long ago, she had still been a new recruit who had just joined Anti-Entropy and was in the middle of training.
All because a Titan mech had gone berserk during a training exercise and sent her flying into this not-quite-right world.
Perhaps because of some similarity between the two worlds, she was also a member of an organization called Anti-Entropy here — but on the surface she had another identity: a Rank A Valkyrie of Schicksal's Snow Wolf Squad.
A few hours ago, all five members of the Snow Wolf Squad had received orders from headquarters to come to Siberia.
According to the information provided by headquarters, a suspected Herrscher energy signature had been detected here. Their mission was to determine whether a Herrscher had truly been born.
Of course, facing an enemy at Herrscher level, Schicksal hadn't actually expected the five Rank A Valkyries to resolve the situation.
In this mission they were purely a support element. The real firepower responsible for handling the situation was Schicksal's three Rank S Valkyrie-level assets.
Those were: Schicksal's Saint Cecilia Schariac and her husband Siegfried Kaslana, as well as Archbishop Otto's granddaughter Theresa Apocalypse.
Among the five in their Snow Wolf Squad, Salome and Shub were assigned to receive Siegfried. Shigure Kira and Cheng Lixue were assigned to receive Cecilia. And Patrick was naturally assigned to receive Theresa.
She was also to serve as the first wave to explore the Babylon Tower laboratory.
Looking at the heavy sniper rifle in her grip, the cold and solid sensation coming from her fingertips brought her no comfort whatsoever.
Whether from her own world or from the memories she now had of this one, everything warned her of the terror of Herrscher-level enemies — existences capable of ending civilizations.
The moment she thought about facing such an enemy, Patrick's face went sour.
She had only just arrived in this world. She might be about to die again very shortly.
At that moment, her communicator crackled from behind.
Patrick reached for it and found it wasn't the one issued by Schicksal.
Yes — unlike her other friends, she actually carried two communicators.
One was the Schicksal-issued one. The other belonged to the organization she truly served: Anti-Entropy.
Opening the call record, a girl with messy blue hair appeared on the screen.
Patrick recalled her identity — one of Anti-Entropy's Captains, Einstein. Also a world-renowned scientist.
"Patrick — we've detected signals of a large-scale Schicksal troop mobilization."
"Doctor, Schicksal has detected a suspected Herrscher energy signature here."
Hearing Patrick's words, Einstein's face showed no surprise. She said: "We're already aware of the situation. While Schicksal has been mobilizing its Valkyrie units, our special forces have also been gathering outside the Babylon Tower's perimeter."
"Hm? You... I mean, we already knew?" Patrick was quite surprised. She hadn't expected Anti-Entropy's intelligence to be this fast.
"Yes — even the leader is on the way."
Patrick naturally understood who she meant by 'the leader' — the existence known as the Herrscher of Reason.
Upon learning this, Patrick's mood lifted considerably. Knowing that Anti-Entropy forces were in the outer perimeter, and that even Anti-Entropy's powerful leader was en route, the anxiety she felt about facing a Herrscher diminished greatly.
"Doctor — what do I need to do?"
"Cooperate with Schicksal in locating the Herrscher. Faced with an enemy threatening the survival of civilization, Schicksal and Anti-Entropy should act in concert this time..."
Very shortly, Patrick's conversation with Einstein concluded.
"I hope the leader gets here quickly..." Patrick sighed. Though she currently wore the title of a Rank A Valkyrie, she was in essence still a freshly graduated student, and naturally had plenty of anxiety about facing life-or-death situations.
But then she quickly thought of something — aside from the Anti-Entropy leader who hadn't yet arrived, there was another powerful ally she could lean on.
"Speaking of which — where is Theresa?" Patrick looked around and found no sign of Theresa beyond the distant Babylon Tower looming in the snowfield. "Strange — wasn't she supposed to be almost here?"
Just as Patrick was puzzling over this, she heard a sound — growing from distant to close, coming from somewhere above.
She listened carefully, and realized the sound was coming from the sky.
And so she tilted her head in the direction of the sound — and watched a white-haired little dumpling plummeting toward her at great speed.
"——AHHH!!!"
Patrick realized: that plummeting white dumpling was the Lady Theresa she had been waiting for.
Watching the other person drop at terrifying velocity, Patrick quickly raised her arms, hoping to catch her.
But unfortunately, the white dumpling was falling far too fast — before Patrick could even move, she slammed directly into the ground.
——BOOM!!!
"Lady Theresa!" Patrick rushed over immediately, terrified that the powerful ally she was counting on to keep her alive had come to some harm.
Getting closer, she found the impact site looked like a meteorite had struck — a large crater had been punched into the ground.
But fortunately, the other person's physique was robust enough that despite inflicting such devastation on the terrain, she seemed perfectly unharmed. She flipped over and sat up from the crater.
"You are... Patrick?" Theresa — Kallen — asked.
"Yes, my Lady. Patrick, the Snow Wolf Squad Valkyrie assigned to receive you."
"Good. Now that we've met up, let's begin our investigation of the Babylon Tower." Kallen immediately settled into Theresa's identity, rose from the crater, picked up her cross, and beckoned Patrick to advance with her toward the Babylon Tower laboratory.
Patrick saw this and quickly fell in behind her.
Though the 'Theresa' before her was small and slight, as a Rank S Valkyrie of Schicksal, her power was beyond question — this was a being capable of going toe to toe with a Herrscher.
Patrick figured that if she wanted to keep herself alive this time, she had no choice but to cling tightly to this small leg.
Very quickly the two arrived at the Babylon Tower's outer perimeter and began hearing the sound of explosions drifting from a distance.
"There's fighting." Kallen's expression turned grave. "Patrick — stay close."
Saying that, she took off on her short legs in the direction of the sounds, heading for the Babylon Tower's energy zone. Her speed was such that she left an afterimage in the snow.
"Such incredible speed — this is the power of a Rank S Valkyrie?" Seeing Theresa's velocity, Patrick felt even more reassured. She hoisted her heavy sniper rifle and charged forward alongside Theresa.
Very quickly, the two approached the Babylon Tower's energy zone.
"Heh... hahahahahaha!!!" The moment they drew near, they heard a burst of arrogant laughter.
Then a pair of slender hands materialized in front of the two of them, tearing through space like tearing through paper.
Sirin stepped out from within the spatial rift.
Her long purple hair drifted in the wind and snow. In her golden pupils, an inverted cross gleamed — radiating a majesty that looked down upon all things, like a deity gazing upon mortals.
"Humans — your lives end here."
"What overwhelming presence — what crushing pressure — so this is a Herrscher... truly terrifying!" Patrick's heart sank. Based on every film she had ever seen, power that radiated this kind of presence was always extraordinary.
Hearing Patrick's words, Kallen looked at her with a meaningful expression. Confirmed — the person beside her was a complete background character.
But Kallen didn't devote much of her attention to Patrick. Instead she looked the Herrscher of the Void, Sirin, over carefully.
Though Sirin looked plenty imposing, Kallen had already sharply noticed that the Herrscher of the Void before her currently had even less power than a typical pseudo-Herrscher.
While Kallen and Patrick were sizing up Sirin, Sirin was also — after striking a pose she considered supremely dignified — sizing up the two people before her.
She looked at Kallen first, studied her briefly, then dismissed her.
An ordinary little girl. No threat.
Then her gaze landed on Patrick. It swept across that explosive physique, and gradually grew more serious.
Mm... this was a formidable enemy.
Sirin noted that the way Patrick was looking at her was extraordinarily tense — even her heartbeat had begun to race.
This only confirmed Sirin's assessment: the two before her were complete small-fry who had never seen the world.
Though she felt these two posed no real threat, she had no intention of letting them go either. They were detestable humans — and people from this revolting human experimentation facility at that. They had to die!
Having passed sentence on these two small-fry before her, Sirin raised her arm toward Kallen and Patrick. The inverted cross in her eyes radiated fearsome authority, like a deity gazing down upon mortals.
Patrick braced herself as though facing her greatest enemy, gripping the heavy sniper rifle in her hands while moving to shield Kallen beside her.
Finally, Sirin delivered her verdict.
"In the name of the Queen of the Void, humans — your lives end here...BANG!"
Patrick stared open-mouthed as 'Theresa' flickered into place directly in front of Sirin in an instant, swung the cross, and brought it crashing down onto Sirin — completely interrupting her grand and dignified declaration.
Struck by the cross, Sirin went spinning through the air like a top.
She rotated several times in midair before hitting the ground with a thud.
Sirin laboriously raised her head, her eyes filled with pure disbelief.
"A mere human... how... how is this possible..."
Thud. Sirin's face planted into the snow.
Her legs twitched once — and went still.
On the other side of the Babylon Tower laboratory, in the middle of an otherwise endless snowfield, there was an incongruous patch of ground several dozen meters across where flowers and grass were blooming.
Chairs had been set up on the grass, and a table was spread with an assortment of delicate sweets. Lucius and Kiana were seated across from each other.
At this moment, a plate of caramel pudding sat in front of Kiana, spoon in hand, cheeks puffed out happily.
"Mmm mmm mmm..." After swallowing her mouthful of pudding, Kiana asked with some worry: "Lucius — are you sure this arrangement is really going to be fine?"
Hearing Kiana's concern, Lucius rested his cheek on one hand and smiled with full confidence:
"Of course it will be fine. Don't underestimate my grasp of the human heart!"
"Although there's no rigid script, I've actually already sealed off all of Sirin's other options."
"As weak as she currently is, the only thing she can realistically do is disguise herself as a test subject and lay low — waiting for the right moment to figure out how to accumulate Honkai energy from the reactor and restore her strength."
"To prevent her from skipping straight to the reactor, I arranged in advance for Theresa and Patrick to arrive. In her current state she couldn't beat Kallen — she couldn't even beat Patrick."
"As long as she's not a complete idiot, her only choice right now is to disguise herself as a test subject, bide her time, and wait for Kallen to leave before going to absorb the Honkai energy reactor's power."
Hearing Lucius's explanation, Kiana thought it over and found she couldn't really fault the logic.
After all, even the Sirin fifty thousand years from now — the one Lucius called a pufferfish — knew to bide her time and endure when she had no power. However you looked at it, this era's Sirin couldn't possibly be more reckless than her future counterpart, thinking she could take on Kallen with her current strength.
"True enough — when you're weak and powerless, you don't just charge recklessly when the situation is unclear instead of trying to lay low and get stronger. How could there possibly be such a dumb Herrscher!" Kiana scooped up another spoonful of caramel pudding, her face radiating bliss.
Then, a bright red warning interface flashed in front of both of them.
[WARNING: Sirin (Near Death)!!!]
Kiana: "..."
Lucius: "..."
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