I feel rejuvenated, like I'd just woken up from a long, uninterrupted sleep. As my senses gradually returned, the shell-like thing covering me began to crack and splinter until it finally fell apart.
Power coursing through my veins like never before, giving me a sudden sense of omnipotence. I briefly wondered if the Tuna had juiced me up a bit too much, but I certainly wasn't going to complain if that was the case.
"Royce…?"
The sound of her melocious voice, something I haven't heard in a long time, snapped me out of my train of thought. I felt my neurons activating at once as I shot my eyes open.
'Herta…?'
The first thing I saw was the beautiful visage of Herta, standing among the sea of purple flowers. She blended in so perfectly well into the landscape that I felt an urge to capture the moment with something…Perhaps a painting, it shouldn't be that hard to make one.
Just then, an intrusive thought appeared in my mindscape, which was related to my bucket list that I needed to check off.
As Herta moved toward me, I adopted a serene, otherworldly expression and looked her in the eye.
"I am Honkai." I declared. I flexed a bit of my power, causing the air to tremble and filling the area with Honkai energy. "I am the bell that tolls the end of your civilization. As the Herrscher of Providence, I will personally oversee the demise of humankind."
I channeled my best Herrscher persona, which took direct inspiration from Sirin, fully immersing myself in this role. Herta, however, wasn't impressed. She stopped in her tracks, an eyebrow twitching as she planted a hand on her hip.
"Really?" She scoffed, shaking her head. "You couldn't come up with something better?"
"Hmph! Don't underestimate me, hum—Guk!"
A massive ice hammer materialized above my head, and since I made no effort to dodge, it smacked me down to the ground. I lay there sprawled out, catching a glimpse of her approaching from the corner of my eye.
"So, what will you do now, Mr Herrscher?" Herta teased, tapping her foot against the ground as she leaned down over me.
"You won't stop me with just—!!!" My thoughts crashed like a high-speed train hitting the brakes out of nowhere. The moment I felt her soft weight on my chest, rendering my brain incapable of functioning for a brief moment.
She definitely noticed, I could tell by the smirk plastered on her face. The delicate fabric of the black tights rubbed against me as she deliberately shifted her posture while still sitting on top of me.
"So~, what were you saying?"
"You got me." I surrendered without hesitation, raising my hands in the air as I returned to my 'human' form, while also absorbing all Honkai energy that was around. "I yield. No more playing around."
That being said, I have watched enough drama and anime to know exactly what to do next in this scenario. I sat up abruptly, making her fall onto my lap as I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her close enough to catch the flowery scent from her.
"I'm back, Herta," I whispered in her ear. "Sorry for keeping you waiting."
Herta placed her hand over mine, but otherwise remained unusually still. The silence grew long enough to make me worried.
"Herta…?"
Then I noticed her shoulders trembling, and a few chuckles escaped her lips before they turned into full-blown laughter.
"Keep me waiting…?" She muttered, her grip on my hand tightening. Next, she stood up and turned around, and without any warning, lunged forward and pinned me back against the ground.
My heart raced as she leaned in, feeling her warm breath against my skin.
'Damn it, my heart rate wasn't even this high when Polka stabbed me in the throat!'
"Do you know how it felt?" Herta asked, her hand caressing my cheek. "Watching you not waking up, and seeing your condition get worse?"
Guilt gnawed at me because the reason it took this long was partially my fault.
"I am sor—!" I wanted to apologize, but was quickly silenced by a finger on my lips.
"Sshh~, no need to apologize, it wasn't your fault but that detestable woman's," Herta said, her eyes glinting with sharp intensity. "But you don't need to worry about her anymore. The next time she barges in, she'll have to expect losing something in return. Besides, I upgraded the space station's defenses, so such incidents will never happen again. Not to mention…" She paused, her lips curling into a predatory smile. "As long as you're here, you will be secure as you won't be out of my sight anymore."
'Note to self: Don't tell her the full story of what happened anytime soon, or else death would be the least of my worries.'
Still, despite the overwhelming intensity, it warms my chest that she cared this much about me. I was a bit scared, but it was the 'scaroused' kind of fear. Her face was so close that I could've kissed right there just by raising my head a bit, but I held back. There was still one step I needed to do.
"Herta," I said, breaking her hold on me, and rolled us over so that I was the one pinning her down. "I've been holding onto these feelings for a long time, but having died once, I've decided to live with no regrets…And that's why I will selfishly say this…"
I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart and locked my eyes on her.
"Herta, I love you."
She widened her eyes, stunned into silence, but I wasn't just finished yet.
"I love everything about you!" I reiterated, reinforcing my earlier statement. "I find your narcissism cute, and the way you sometimes subtly test me, but always help me when I need it. Even the way you were acting earlier was so adorable that I couldn't help but fall in love with you thrice!"
"So…" I paused, my nerves finally catching up. "What do you think about me?"
Herta stared at me, blinking rapidly, before she broke into another fit of laughter.
"I am surprised that you can say something like that with a straight face; even a beautiful maiden like me would get embarrassed." She said, her cheeks flushing into a healthy pink.
I tried to turn my head away in shame, but her hands cupped my face, forcing me to look at her.
"As I have always said, for a genius, the importance of asking the questions outweighs the importance of the answers themselves," Herta said, brushing the corner of my mouth with her thumb. "That's why, as the 83rd member of the Genius Society, it's my duty to answer your question."
Without warning, she wrapped her arms around my neck, rolling over to be on top, and locked her soft lips onto mine.
'Sweet.'
That was my first thought when I registered what was happening.
Whether it was a psychological trick from the mind or just the sheer heat of the moment, everything felt so magical, and the sensation was mind-blowing. My hands instinctively found her waist, pulling her closer, as my other hand gravitated downwards, and she arched her rear so I could reach her squishy peaks more quickly.
However, despite the implosion of dopamine and pleasure I was feeling, a lingering sense of 'lost dominance' nagged at the back of my mind.
'It can't end like this…' I thought, pulling back for a break.
"Royce?" Herta asked, looking confused. A thin trail of saliva ran down her chin, a sight so seductive that it nearly broke my mind, but I can't afford to be distracted.
I need to act fast before she realizes I was plotting something.
I immediately twisted my body, rolling us through the flowers until I was back on the top.
"Round 2, baby," I said, grinning, and immediately went back on the attack.
Our lips reconnected, and she quickly figured out what was going on. Without breaking the kiss, she rolled us over again. Then, under the starry sky, a battle for dominance unfolded, a cycle of rolling through the sea of flowers, while still making out and getting a feel of our bodies. The only thing matching the passion at the moment was our competitive spirit.
I don't quite recall how it ended, but the sweet flavor of her love and the scent of clematis remained ingrained in my soul forever.
————
On the desolate planet of Salsotto, two figures roamed the vast seas of sand under the twilight sky.
Welt Yang stood at the prow of a shipwrecked vessel, leaning on his case as he watched the horizon.
"Can you go a little faster?" Welt asked, glancing down at Void Archives, who was hauling the entire structure with a thick rope.
"...Listen here, just what do you think a Divine Key is?" Void Archives asked rhetorically, sighing with exasperated breath. "If people knew what you were using me for, they would cry."
He never stopped pulling, though.
"Then it's a good thing that there is no one besides us here, no?" Welt joked as he shook his head, returning his gaze to the dunes. "Besides, you can't expect these old bones to pull something this big, can you?"
The planet was a graveyard of a lost civilization, as native life had long gone extinct. Neither of them had a specific goal here; they were simply drifting through the cosmos in search of Himeko. The shipwreck? Welt just felt like bringing it along.
However, it was at this moment that they all felt it, the Herrscher cores inside them trembled as they felt a familiar sensation wash over them. A phenomenon they knew all too well.
Void Archives dropped the rope and looked at the beyond of the sky.
"Oi, oi, are you serious?" He asked in disbelief.
Welt Yang, on the other hand, gripped his cane tightly, his eyes narrowing in shock.
"Honkai Eruption…"
The signal was faint, suggesting that the source was incredibly far away from them, which only made him even more worried.
The Honkai scales with the advancement of human civilization.
That was the law enforced on Honkai by the Cocoon of Finality to determine the strength of Honkai Beasts and Herrschers.
If the core of Reason inside him sensed it from this distance, then the power of the new Herrscher was nothing short of terrifying.
'One must imagine how advanced the civilization was for the apotheosis to be on this scale.' Welt thought. 'If the newly ascended Herrscher manages to destroy the civilization, nothing stops them from travelling to other worlds and spreading the chaos.'
Welt Yang was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice Void Archives had just landed next to him.
"So what's the plan?" Void Archive's voice snapped him back to reality. The Divine Key knew Welt too well after spending a long time with him; there was no way this grandpa would ignore this.
Welt paused and pondered for a while.
"First, we will—" As he was about to speak, a sharp noise coming from above interrupted them, prompting them to raise their heads.
*Toot—Toot!!!*
The clouds parted violently as a train descended from the stars, bathed in light as it smoothly made its way to the ground, coming to a stop a few yards away from the duo.
As Welt and Void Archives observed from the shipwreck, the carriage doors hissed open, and a woman stepped out, carrying a suitcase in her hand. Her long red hair swayed in the desert wind as her golden eyes fixed on the duo.
While one man looked on in astonishment and the other in amusement, Himeko gave a friendly smile and waved a hand in greeting.